LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

RECEIVED    BY   EXCHANGE 

Class 


, 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper 


BY 


C.  W.  SOMMERVILLE,  A.  M. 


A  Dissertation  presented  to  the  Board  of  University  Studies 

of  the   Johns   Hopkins   University   for   the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 


WTH*    ' 



j*i 


THE    NEALE    COMPANY 

431   ELEVENTH    STREET  N.  W. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

1899 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper 


BY 


C.  W.  SOMMERVILLE,  A.  M. 


A  Dissertation  presented  to  the  Board  of  University  Studies 

of   the   Johns   Hopkins   University   for   the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 


THE    NEALE    COMPANY 

431   ELEVENTH    STREET  N.  W. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

1899 


TO    M!Y    SISTERS 


Of  those  distinguished  men  who  graced  the  Maryland  bar  in 
the  early  part  of  this  century,  General  Robert  Goodloe  Harper 
ranked  among  the  first.  It  is  the  aim  of  this  paper  to  set  forth  the 
main  facts  in  his  life  in  its  public  and  national  relations.  Materials 
for  this  purpose  were  abundant,  but  scattered.  They  included  a  brief 
manuscript  account  of  his  life  written  by  General  Harper  about 
1801;  files  of  letters  and  documents,  to  which  access  was  given  by 
Mr.  W.  C.  Pennington,  of  Baltimore;  two  volumes  of  Harper's 
Works  (Baltimore,  1814),  and  sundry  pamphlets  published  by  him. 
Further  information  was  gathered  from  newspapers,  journals, 
biographies  and  reports. 

My  thanks  for  suggestions  are  due  to  Professor  Adams,  to  Drs. 
Steiner,  Vincent,   Ballagh  and  Willoughby. 

Baltimore,  June,  1899. 


228294 


ROBERT  GOODLOE  HARPER, 

By  C.  W.  Sommerville. 

"OOBERT  GOODLOE  HARPER  was  born  on  a  Virginia 
JLV  farm  near  Fredericksburg,  in  January,  1765.  His 
father,  Jesse  Harper,  and  his  grandfather,  Abraham  Harper, 
had  lived  for  years  in  Spottsylvania  County,  Va.  The  family 
is  traced  far  back  in  English  history.  In  Virginia  its  mem 
bers  had  intermarried  with  the  Minors  and  the  Goodloes. 

Robert  Goodloe  Harper  was  the  only  boy  in  a  family  of 
nine.  When  he  was  about  four  years  old  his  father  moved 
into  Northern  North  Carolina,  and  there  the  family  has  re 
mained.  Harper  was  taught  at  home  until  about  his  tenth 
year,  when  he  was  sent  to  the  grammar  school. 

When  the  Bristish  Army,  under  Lord  Cornwallis,  having 
defeated  General  Gates  near  Camden,  overran  North  Caro 
lina,  Harper,  though  but  a  lad  of  fifteen,  left  his  books  and 
joined  a  volunteer  corps  of  cavalry,  which  served  under 
General  Nathaniel  Greene,  until  the  British  left  the  State 
for  Yorktown. 

Harper  now  tried  to  study  again,  but  he  found  books  too 
dull  after  an  experience  in  the  field  of  arms,  and  after  the 
promotion  his  efforts  had  gained.  He  had  been  made  Quar 
termaster  to  his  corps.*  His  efforts  at  study  were  made 
the  harder  by  a  tempting  offer  of  a  lieutenancy  in  a  regular 
cavalry  regiment.  His  father  dissuaded  him  from  accept 
ing  the  lieutenancy,  and  Harper  agreed  to  continue  his  stud 
ies  until  he  was  twenty  years  old,  on  his  father's  promise 
then  to  equip  him  for  military  service. 

Peace  with  England  soon  relieved  the  father  of  his  part 
of  the  agreement,  and  a  surveying  tour  in  1783  in  "the  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennessee  countries"  took  Harper  away  from 
books  again.  This  visit  to  the  West  gave  Harper  a  knowl 
edge  of  that  great  territory  and  also  a  turn  for  land  specula- 

*R.  Walsh,  Jr.,  in  "Encyclopedia  Americana."  Walsh  had  read  law 
In  Harper's  office. 

The  facts  in  this  chapter  are  found  in  unpublished  manuscripts, 
to  which  I  have  had  access  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  W.  C.  Pen- 
nington,  of  Baltimore. 


6  Robert  Ooodloe  Harper. 

tion;  facts  which  influenced  his  future  to  some  degree.  He 
acquired  at  this  time  some  of  the  western  lands,  but  from 
surveyors'  frauds  and  his  own  neglect  little  profit  came  of 
them. 

For  some  time  after  his  return  from  the  West,  Harper 
indulged  in  idleness,  dissipation  and  gambling.  Finally  he 
accepted  his  father's  offer  to  send  him  to  college,  and  in 
June,  1784,  he  set  out  for  Princeton  College,  N.  J.  When 
his  slender  means  were  exhausted,  he  applied  to  President 
John  Witherspoon  for  employment  in  a  grammar  school 
which  the  President  had  established  in  the  college.  Kev. 
Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith  also  engaged  him  to  teach  some 
boys  who  had  been  put  in  Dr.  Smith's  care.  This  work  in 
teaching  consumed  eight  hours  a  day,  so  that  when  college 
duties  were  done  there  was  little  time  left  for  rest  or  exer 
cise.  In  the  spring  vacation  of  1785  Harper  went  to  New 
York  and  had  an  interview  with  Governor  Spaight,  of 
North  Carolina,  who  loaned  the  student  means  for  the  next 
session  at  college.  Harper  carried  the  junior  and  senior 
classes  together  the  next  term,  and  on  September  28,  1785, 
he  was  graduated  Bachelor  of  Arts,  received  the  Essayist's 
Medal,  and  delivered  a  discourse  on  "The  Proper  Objects  of 
Education."* 

When  Harper  left  college  it  was  his  desire  to  see  the 
world.  He  went  with  a  fellow  student  to  Philadelphia  and 
determined  to  sail  for  England  and  make  the  tour  of  Europe 
on  foot.  He  planned  to  give  lessons  in  London  and  to  use 
his  knowledge  of  tools,  if  need  be,  at  the  joiner's  trade,  until 
his  means  were  better.  But  ice  in  the  Delaware  delayed 
shipping  for  weeks.f 

This  delay  was  fatal  to  Harper's  plan,  and  he  determined 
to  go  to  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  teach  and  study  law. 

As  Harper  stood  a  penniless  stranger  on  the  Charleston 
wharf  in  November,  1785,  he  was  accosted  by  the  father  of 
one  of  his  former  pupils  at  Princeton,  and  received  great 
kindness  and  help  from  him.  In  Charleston  he  engaged  as 
usher  in  a  large  school  kept  by  Mr.  Thompson.  He  thus 
made  forty  guineas  a  year  and  at  the  same  time  studied  law 
in  the  office  of  two  young  Parkers,  who  were  then  making  a 
reputation  at  the  bar.  Colonel  Hawkins,  of  North  Carolina, 
was  in  Charleston  during  the  winter,  and  having  known 
the  Harpers,  introduced  Eobert  Goodloe  Harper  to  General 

*New  Jersey  Gazette,  October  10,  1780,  quoted  by  Moore  in  his 
"American  Eloquence,"  page  489. 
fRobert  Walsh,  Jr.,  in  "Encyclopedia  Americana." 


Robert  Ooodloe  Harper.  7 

Pinckney,  Mr.  Edward  Rutledge  and  other  persons  of  promi 
nence.  In  the  fall  of  1786,  Harper  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
He  soon  located  in  Ninety-six  District,  in  the  upper  part  of 
South  Carolina.  Here  he  gained  some  political  notice  by  a 
series  of  articles  on  a  proposed  change  in  the  State  Consti 
tution.* 

In  the  latter  part  of  1789,  Harper  removed  to  Charleston, 
where  he  engaged  in  a  growing  practice,  and  was  soon  in 
the  State  Legislature. 

In  1791  he  renewed  his  connection  with  land  speculation, 
then  rife.  A  company  which  had  contracted  with  the  State 
of  Georgiaf  for  a  large  territory  on  the  Mississippi  engaged 
him  as  their  manager,  offering  him  five  per  cent,  of  the  pur 
chase  for  his  services.  He  went  that  summer  to  Philadel 
phia  to  sell  the  stock  of  this  land  company. 

The  land  scheme  miscarried,  but  Harper's  mind  had  been 
diverted  from  his  profession,  and  his  trip  had  created  a  de 
cided  relish  for  the  Northern  States,  and  had  aroused  ambi 
tions  towards  a  Congressional  career. 

A  seat  was  offered  Harper  in  1792,  but  he  declined  be 
cause  of  the  small  pay  of  six  dollars  per  diem  allowed  Rep 
resentatives.  Meanwhile  land  speculation  was  profitable 
and  very  attractive. 

In  1794  he  bought  a  plantation  in  Ninety-six,  intending  to 
remove  there  from  Charleston.  He  then  offered  himself  a 
candidate  for  the  House  of  Representatives  and  was  elected 
for  Ninety-six  District,  meanwhile  continuing  in  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  State  until  the  time  for  him  to  take  his  seat  in 
Congress,  December,  1795.  Before  this  time  arrived  the 
death  of  Alexander  Gillon  caused  a  vacancy  in  the  Orange- 
burg  District.  Harper  was  pressed  to  stand  as  a  candidate 
for  Orangeburg.  He  was  elected  as  a  Democrat,  and  took 
his  seat  on  Monday,  February  9,  1795.$ 

In  the  importance  of  events  and  discussions,  excitement* 
of  parties  and  the  talents  of  leaders,  that  period  may  be 
termed  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  our  annals  as  a  na 
tion.  Harper  was  to  take  his  place  among  the  leaders  of  the 
dominant  party.  Madison  wrote  to  Jefferson  on  learning 
of  Harper's  first  election  (November  16,  1794):  "Hunter'a 
successor  (a  Mr.  Harper)  will  be  a  valuable  acquisition,  be 
ing  able,  sound  and  eloquent."§ 

*Harper's  Works,  1:  42. 

f Out  of  this  grew  the  famous  Yazoo  frauds  so  long  fought  by  John 
Randolph,  of  Roanoke. 

JAnnals  of  Congress,  1793-'5,  page  1205. 
§  Madison's  Works  2:  20. 


8  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

On  Monday,  February  9,  1790,  Harper  took  his  seat  in 
Congress  as  a  Representative  of  South  Carolina,*  and  on  the 
17th  he  was  assigned  to  his  first  committee.!  We  shall 
find  him  advocating  measures  of  relief,  internal  improve 
ments  and  of  general  welfare.  His  view  extended  to  the 
whole  country.  In  1791  a  survey  of  the  coast  of  Georgia 
had  been  begun  by  private  persons.  Harper  saw  the  utility 
of  such  a  survey  to  shipping,  and  at  once  advocated  a  loan 
by  the  United  States  for  completing  such  a  work,  because 
it  was  for  the  national  benefit.!  He  rose  above  narrow 
state  lines  before  harbor  improvements  or  coast  survey  by 
the  National  Government  had  been  thought  of. 

His  experience  with  land  speculations  enabled  him  to  give 
a  complete  historical  argument  vindicating  the  right  of 
Georgia  in  the  famous  Yazoo  land  frauds,  §  and  in  case  of 
the  Northwest  Territory  he  opposed  the  sale  of  lands  in 
large  tracts  to  speculators.  He  was  unsuccessful  in  his  op 
position,  but  he  was  on  the  side  of  wisdom,  for  he  advocated 
the  sale  of  lands  in  small  lots  to  actual  settlers.  This  would 
shut  out  speculators,  give  the  Government  a  better  price  for 
them,  and  insure  permanent  and  desirable  settlers.  || 

Harper's  entrance  into  Congress  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
negotiations  with  England  regarding  the  differences  left 
unsettled  since  the  treaty  of  Paris,  1783.  Jay's  treaty  was 
signed  November  19,  1794,  but  it  did  not  reach  Washington 
until  March  7,  1795.  When  its  provisions  were  known  op 
position  to  it  swept  the  country  with  the  violence  of  a  hurri 
cane^  Jefferson  called  it  infamous;  Jay  was  burned  in 
effigy.  As  an  appropriation  was  necessary  to  carry  the 
treaty  into  effect,  it  had  to  come  before  the  House.  This 
brought  out  notable  speeches.**  Washington  refused  to  send 
the  papers  asked  for,  because  the  treaty-making  power,  he 
said,  laid  with  the  Executive  with  the  Senate's  consent.  Tor 
rents  of  abuse  fell  on  Washington.  There  was  talk  of  im 
peachment.  Speeches  were  fiery.  "Never,"  said  Marshall, 
"had  a  greater  display  been  made  of  argument,  of  eloquence 
and  of  passion."  One  of  the  greatest  speeches  was  by  Fisher 
Ames.  Gallatin  assertedf  f  that  a  treaty  is  not  valid  until  it 

*Annals  1793-5,  1205. 

fAnnals,  1230. 

$  Annals,  1793-5;  p.  1249,  and  for  1795-6,  pp.  149-158. 

§  Annals,  1795-6,  p.  1279. 

||  Annals,  1795-6;  p.  353. 

llWhitelock,  Life  and  Times  of  John  Jay,  p.  278. 

** Annals,  1795-6;  pp.  457,  747,  801,  886,  810,  955,  1171. 

ft  Annals,  p.  747. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  9 

has  received  the  sanction  of  the  House.  Harper  replied  that 
in  limited  governments  the  treaty-making  power  may  be 
limited.  The  treaty-making  power  had  been  given  to  the 
President  and  Senate,  as  legislative  power  to  the  House.  A 
treaty  is  not  a  law  and  does  not  belong  to  the  House.  A 
treaty  derives  its  origin  from  the  consent  of  equals,  while  a 
law  gets  its  from  the  authority  of  a  superior.  Laws  are  com 
mands;  treaties  are  compacts. 

Treaties,  he  argued,  lie  in  the  province  of  the  law  of  na 
tions;  the  legislative  power  has  to  do  with  municipal  law. 
The  Legislature  cannot  make  a  compact,  nor  can  the  treaty- 
making  power  make  a  law.  The  House  had  nothing  to  do 
with  treaties  except  to  determine  how  far  they  could  carry 
them  out.  Harper  supported  his  views  by  citations  from 
English  and  international  usage.  With  as  forcible  argu 
ments  he  maintained  against  Gallatin  that  treaties  repeal 
all  existing  opposing  laws.* 

In  defense  of  Jay's  treaty  Harper  argued  that  the  whole 
commercial  part  of  it  was  to  expire  at  the  end  of  twelve 
years  and  might  be  terminated  by  the  United  States  at  the 
end  of  two  years  from  the  close  of  the  war  between  England 
and  France.  Hard  as  the  stipulations  might  be,  they  could 
not  ruin  trade  in  so  short  a  while.  We  charged  England  with 
having  failed  to  give  up  the  western  posts,  as  she  had  agreed 
to  do  in  the  treaty  of  Paris;  with  having  carried  away,  con 
trary  to  that  treaty,  a  number  of  slaves,  when  New  York 
was  evacuated,  and  with  violating  the  law  of  nations  by  the 
capture  of  American  vessels  which  were  neutral  in  regard  to 
England  and  France.  But  England  claimed  to  hold  the  posts 
as  a  pledge  for  our  payment  of  British  debts;  that  the  ne 
groes  carried  away  were  not  American  property  at  this  time, 
and  that  no  American  vessel  had  been  taken  against  the 
law  of  nations.  Now,  said  Harper,  under  these  circum 
stances,  there  were  but  three  courses  to  follow:  Submit 
quietly;  compel  redress;  negotiate  redress.  The  first  course 
would  be  dastardly.  The  second  course  might  take  the  di 
rection  of  war,  commercial  restriction,  prohibition  of  inter 
course,  or  sequestration  of  debts.  As  to  war,  we  had  not  a 
frigate  nor  a  regiment  to  spare  from  the  Indian  wars,  com 
mercial  restriction  would  probably  widen  the  breach,f  and 
we  would  lose  more  than  we  gained.  To  suspend  commercial 
intercourse  would  hurt  us  and  do  no  good;  and,  finally,  se- 

*  Annals,  1795-6;  p.  758. 
t  Works  1:  12. 


10  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

questration  of  British  debts  would  shake  foreign  confidence 
in  us,  ruin  our  credit  and  at  the  last  compel  us  to  fight  or  to 
negotiate  under  less  favorable  circumstances.  The  third 
course,  negotiation,  was  then  the  only  possible  course  left 
us.  More  than  this,  he  said,  things  were  not  as  bad  as  they 
appeared  to  be.  The  negroes  carried  off  numbered  only 
about  three  throusand,  and  a  third  of  these  were  free.  The 
two  thousand  slaves  at  two  hundred  dollars  each  would 
make  a  sum  far  less  than  the  cost  of  a  quarrel;  a  three 
months'  war  would  cost  five  times  as  much.  The  impress 
ment  of  seamen  was  really  provided  against  in  the  nine 
teenth  article  of  the  treaty.*  Then  the  Western  posts  were 
to  be  held  only  for  eighteen  months  longer.  These  draw 
backs  could  be  endured  for  a  while  rather  than  to  suffer  all 
the  horrors  of  war. 

Moreover,  the  treaty  settled  our  differences,  gave  us  ad 
vantages  in  the  East  Indies  and  Canadian  trade,  and  was  a 
basis  for  a  future  and  more  beneficial  arrangement. 

In  spite  of  many  such  arguments  the  appropriation  bill 
necessary  to  render  the  treaty  effective  only  passed  by  a 
vote  of  51  to  48.  All  the  New  England  members  but  four, 
most  of  those  from  the  Middle  States,  but  only  four  from  the 
South,  voted  for  the  bill.  Harper  was  serving  his  first  term, 
and  was  placing  his  future  political  advancement  in  jeop 
ardy  by  opposing  the  popular  will,  almost  unanimous  in 
the  South,  which  had  wrought  itself  up  to  the  pitch  of  ston 
ing  Hamilton  for  attempting  to  defend  the  treaty.f  But 
Harper  was  too  brave  to  go  against  his  convictions.  He  de 
fended  the  treaty  and  published  his  arguments  for  it.  His 
straightforward  course  insured  his  re-election  until  the 
downfall  of  the  Federalists. 

In  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Congresses,  Harper  was  the  Fed 
eralist  leader.t  He  was  made  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means  December  4,  1797, §  and  was  again  ap 
pointed  December  9,  1799,  for  the  last  session  he  served.  In 
this  position  he  had  charge  of  all  the  financial  schemes  of 
the  Administration  at  the  critical  period  of  the  threatened 
war  with  France. 

In  1797,  Harper  published  his  "Observations  on  the  Dis 
pute  Between  the  United  States  and  France,"  in  which  he 
presented  a  very  strong  case  against  France.  t  The  publica- 

*  Works  1: 18. 

fMacMaster,  United  States,  2:  219. 

JSchouler,  Hist,  of  the  U.  S.,  1:  352. 

§Annals  of  Congress,  1797,  p.  672,  and  1799,  p.  197. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  11 

tion  brought  him  much  notice.  Peter  Porcupine,*  in  a  tirade 
against  Harper,  says  that  "the  pamphlet  which  gained  him 
so  much  renown  in  England,  and  which  was  quoted  wirh 
high  enconiums  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  I  furnished 
the  hints,  gave  the  materials,  drew  the  plan  for;  and  while 
Lord  Grenville  was  extolling  this  pamphlet  in  one  House 
and  Mr.  Dundas  in  the  other,  while  they  were  paying  such  a 
handsome  tribute  to  the  talents,  candor  and  integrity  of  the 
honorable  member  of  the  American  Congress,  after  the  Eng 
lish  applause  had  been  echoed  and  re-echoed  through 
America,  Harper  published  a  new  edition.  The  pamphlet 
did  great  good  in  both  countries  and  great  injury  to  France." 
G.  Cabot  wrote,  April  25, 1798,  to  John  Adams  :f  "We  keep 
our  presses  going  with  Harper's  excellent  speech  and 
pamphlet.  Harper  must  devote  himself  to  proving  to  the 
people  the  absolute  propriety  of  what  is  done.  If  he  knew 
the  extent  of  his  fame  already  acquired,  his  ambition  would 
stimulate  him  to  the  most  laborious  undertakings;"  also,i 
quoting  a  letter  from  William  Smith,  Minister  to  Portugal, 
August  14,  1798,  "Harper's  pamphlet  has  been  translated 
into  Portuguese  and  distributed  here  gratis.  It  was  printed 
by  order  of  the  Government."  Fisher  Ames  wrote  to  Chris. 
Gore  in  London,  July  28,  1798 :§  "Did  Lord  Grenville  and 
Dundas  know  that  their  eulogium  on  his  book  would  help 
the  French  by  marring  a  good  thing  in  Congress?  Yet,  so 
it  is.  Harper  is  a  fine  fellow,  but  praise  has  half  spoiled 
him." 

The  impeachment  of  Blount  occupied  a  part  of  this  session 
of  Congress,  and  Harper  took  a  leading  part  in  the  case. 
An  account  of  it  is  given  below. 

The  protective  measures  of  proposed  restriction  in  natural 
ization,  the  Alien  Act,  Alien  Enemies  Act  and  the  Sedition 
Act  were  all  championed  by  Harper.  In  advocating  the 
limitation  of  naturalization  facilities,  he  said||  it  was  time 
we  should  recover  from  the  mistake  of  admitting  foreigners 
to  citizenship.  This  mistake  had  been  productive  of  very 
great  evils  to  the  country,  and  there  was  danger  of  those 
evils  increasing.  The  time  had  come  when  it  was  proper  to 
declare  that  nothing  but  birth  should  entitle  a  man  to  citi 
zenship  in  this  country.  He  was  for  giving  foreigners  every 
facility  for  acquiring  and  holding  property  and  of  transfer- 

*Porcupine's  Works,  9;  331. 

fLife  and  Works  of  Fisher  Ames,  1:  236. 

$2,  119. 

§Ibid,  1:  236. 

|| Annals,  1798;  p.  1567. 


12  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

ring  it  to  their  families,  but  they  should  not  be  given  the 
right  of  citizenship,  because  they  could  not  have  the  same 
views  as  native  citizens.  It  was  an  underlying  principle  of 
civil  society  that  none  but  persons  born  in  a  country  should 
be  permitted  to  take  part  in  the  government.  The  bill  favor 
ing  a  more  restricted  naturalization  became  law  June  18.* 

One  of  Harper's  last  speeches  in  Congressf  was  in  advo 
cacy  of  continuing  the  Sedition  Act,  which  he  regarded  "as 
a  shield  for  the  liberty  of  the  press  and  the  freedom  of  opin 
ion.  "I  wish,"  he  said,  "to  interpose  this  law  between  the 
freedom  of  discussion  and  the  overbearing  sway  of  that 
tyrannical  spirit  by  which  a  certain  political  party!  in  this 
country  is  actuated,  which  arrogates  to  itself  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  the  people,  knows  neither  moderation,  mercy,  nor 
justice,  regards  neither  feeling,  principle,  nor  right,  and 
sweeps  down  with  relentless  fury  all  that  dares  detect  its 
follies,  oppose  its  progress  or  resist  its  domination."  The 
Sedition  Act,  he  thought,  was  the  one  barrier  that  stood  t^- 
tween  Democratic  fury  and  public  liberty.  Harper's  whole 
career  had  been  marked  by  the  same  zealous  support  of  Ad 
ministration  measures,  of  ample  military  and  naval  prepara 
tion  as  the  surest  means  of  protection  and  respect  abroad, 
and  of  avoiding  encroachments,  especially  by  Prance. 

Upon  the  close  of  his  Congressional  career  (March  5, 1801), 
Harper  set  forth  a  review  of  his  and  his  party's  course  in 
Congress.  The  change  which  occurred  March  4,  1801,  was 
the  first  in  our  history  of  one  party's  giving  place  to  another. 
For  twelve  years  the  Federalists  had  been  in  power;  with 
Jefferson  the  trial  was  to  be  made  of  something  new.  "Should 
Mr.  Jefferson  conduct  the  Government  on  rational  princi 
ples,"  Harper  wrote  to  a  friend  in  South  Carolina,  "and  with 
steadiness,  vigor  and  prudence,  his  elevation  will  prove  a 
public  blessing.  The  fear  that  he  might  not  was  a  sufficient 
reason  for  opposing  his  election."  He  had  no  love  for  the 
Democrats,  and  dwells  upon  the  work  of  "The  Federal  Re 
publicans  or  Federalists,"  by  whom  the  affairs  of  the  United 
States  have  been  successfully  managed,  the  friends  and  asso 
ciates  of  Washington,  the  supporters  of  Adams,  and  the 
authors  of  the  Federal  Government  itself,  and  of  that  system 
of  domestic  and  foreign  policy  by  which  this  nation  has  been 
conducted  with  unexampled  rapidity  in  the  course  of  honor, 
prosperity  and  happiness.  These  are  the  men  whose  system 

*W.  Macdonald,  Select  Documents  of  U.  S.  Hist.,  p.  138. 
fJan.  21,  1801,  Annals,  p.  940. 
$The  Republicans. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  13 

I  adopted  from  my  first  entrance  into  public  life,  with  whom 
it  was  my  pride  and  boast  to  have  stood,  and  with  whom  I 
wish  to  fall,  if  fall  they  must. 

The  leading  principle  of  this  system  as  to  foreign  nations 
had  been  to  preserve  peace  with  all,  but  to  grant  privileges 
to  none,  and  to  submit  to  indignities  from  none,  relying  for 
the  protection  of  our  rights  not  on  the  good  will  of  other 
governments,  but  on  our  own  strength.  "By  these  principles," 
said  Harper,  "we  have  maintained  the  nation  in  peace, 
through  the  most  general  and  furious  war  of  modern  times. 
England  and  France  were  both  endeavoring  to  draw  us  into 
it.  We  resisted  both  and  surmounted  all  difficulties  with 
out  an  abandonment  of  national  rights  or  honor.  We  have 
established  a  navy  which  has  averted  the  war,  and  still  pro 
tects  our  commerce.  With  Spain  we  have  settled  a  terri 
torial  dispute  on  terms  honorable  and  advantageous  to  our 
nation." 

In  domestic  concerns  Harper  had  supported  the  authority 
of  the  Federal  Government,  which  alone,  he  thought,  was 
capable  of  insuring  our  safety  from  abroad  by  opposing  a 
united  strength,  and  of  maintaining  peace  at  home  by  check 
ing  the  ambition  of  the  states.  It  was  of  prime  importance 
to  make  the  Federal  Government  as  independent  as  possible 
of  state  influence.  In  every  struggle  between  the  Federal 
and  the  State  Governments,  Harper  considered  the  State 
Governments  as  possessing  the  greater  natural  strength, 
and  therefore  thought  it  his  duty  to  take  the  part  of  the 
weaker  party.  For  the  same  reason  he  supported  the  Execu 
tive  against  the  encroachment  of  the  Legislature. 

A  maxim  of  Harper's  was  that  public  officials  could  not 
be  induced  to  accept  public  trust  unless  they  could  be  de 
cently  maintained  by  the  office.  Otherwise  it  would  be  diffi 
cult  to  prevail  on  men  of  the  highest  character  to  accept 
office.  To  compensate  handsomely  all  the  chief  officers  of 
Government  would  cost  less  than  incompetent  men  might 
waste  in  a  month. 

For  revenue  commerce  is  necessary.  Harper  said  nine 
millions  derived  from  imposts  cost  less  and  were  less  than 
four  hundred  thousand  gotten  from  a  whisky  tax.  For  en 
couraging  trade  he  had  advocated  establishment  of  banks, 
encouragement  of  insurance  cpmpanies,  formation  of  com 
mercial  treaties,  sending  consuls  to  trading  countries,  erec 
tion  of  lighthouses,  harbor  improvements  and  coast  defenses. 
These  had  been  his  principles.  In  the  momentary  eclipse 
of  these  principles  by  Republican  success,  when  it  was  said 


14  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

the  sun  of  Federalism  had  set  forever,  Harper  did  not  lose 
hope. 

With  confidence  he  prophesied  the  final  triumph  of  Fed 
eralism.  "The  sun  of  Federalism  may  set,"  he  said,  "but  it 
will  rise  again.  The  mists  of  Democracy  may  obscure  it  for 
a  moment,  but  they  cannot  tarnish  its  lustre,  much  less  ex 
tinguish  its  light  It  may  set,  but  the  benighted  nation, 
after  tossing  for  a  while  in  the  disturbed  dream  of  fancied 
good,  will  wake  to  mourn  its  absence,  and  sigh  for  its  return. 
It  will  return.  The  nation  shall  hail  its  approach  and  re 
joice  in  the  brightness  of  its  course.  Names  may  change, 
the  men  who  hold  the  reins  may  be  different,  the  denomina 
tion  of  parties  may  be  altered  or  forgotten,  but  the  principles 
on  which  the  Federalists  have  acted  must  be  adopted  and 
their  plans  must  be  pursued  or  the  Government  must  fall  to 
pieces." 

There  have  been  seven  trials  on  impeachment  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In  the  first  three  of 
these  cases  Harper  participated,  once  as  one  of  the  managers 
on  the  part  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  twice  as 
counsel  for  the  impeached.  These  early  cases  were  particu 
larly  important,  because  they  established  precedents.  Im 
peachment  having  been  borrowed  from  the  English  Consti 
tution,  and  having  been  more  or  less  loosely  defined  in  its 
nature  and  limits,  there  arose  in  the  United  States  uncer 
tainty  as  to  how  much  change  was  necessary  in  the  institu 
tion  as  it  existed  in  England.  There  are  two  schools  of  in 
terpretation.  One  holds  that  the  power  of  impeachment  ex 
tends  only  to  such  offenders  as  may  afterwards  be  indicted 
according  to  law.  This  was  Harper's  view.  The  other 
view  is  that  "high  crimes  and  misdemeanors"  embrace  not 
only  indictable  offenses,  but  also  those  wider  and  vaguer 
political  offenses  not  to  be  reached  by  the  ordinary  law. 

The  first  impeachment  to  occur  under  the  present  Consti 
tution  was  that  of  Senator  Blount,  of  Tennessee.*  Blount 
had  been  in  the  Continental  Congress  and  had  been  Gover 
nor  of  the  Southwest  Territory.  He  aimed  at  the  establish 
ment  of  a  colony  back  of  the  Alleghenies  in  English  inter 
ests.  Congress  felt  that  unless  Blount's  schemes  were 
stamped  with  infamy  the  country  would  fall  to  pieces.f 

Blount  had  great  favor  with  the  Indians  and  the  people 
of  Tennessee,  who  looked  to  fhe  Mississippi  for  an  outlet  for 

*Wharton,  State  Trials,  p.  317;  Annals  of  Congress,  1797-8. 
tWm.  Cobbett's  "Peter  Porcupine,"  and  Schouler  History  of  the 
United  States,  1:  304. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  15 

their  trade.  He  was  therefore  important  if  disaffected 
towards  the  United  States.  The  treaty  with  Spain  in  1795 
was  considered  very  advantageous  to  the  Western  Territory. 
But  it  was  feared  that  a  secret  article  in  a  treaty  between 
Spain  and  France  had  ceded  Louisiana  to  France.  Blount 
did  not  like  the  idea  of  having  the  French  for  neighbors,  be 
cause  they  would  interfere  with  the  settlement  of  Western 
lands  and  some  of  his  own  lands.  He  therefore  planned  to 
put  the  English  in  possession  of  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas, 
if  England  would  hold  New  Orleans,  while  he,  at  the  head  of 
settlers  and  Indians,  drove  the  Spaniards  from  North  Amer 
ica  and  prevented  the  French  settling  in  Louisiana.  A  let 
ter  of  Blount's,  which  implicated  him  in  these  treasonable 
schemes*  was  put  into  the  President's  hands,  and  was  read 
in  the  Senate  in  Blount's  presence.  He  was  arrested  and 
impeached  (July  7, 1797).  Harper  was  made  one  of  the  com 
mittee  to  prepare  the  articles  of  impeachment.  Blount  was 
twice  bailed  to  answer  the  charges,  but  on  July  8,  1797,  he 
was  expelled  from  the  Senate,  having  been  guilty  of  a  high 
misdemeanor.f  The  managers,  however,  proceeded  with  the 
collection  of  evidence.  January  9,  1798,  the  articles  were 
agreed  to.  They  charged  Blount  with  setting  on  foot  a  mili 
tary  expedition  against  Spain  in  the  interest  of  England,  in 
citing  the  Indians  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  Floridas 
and  injuring  the  United  States  among  the  Indians.  The 
trial  did  not  occur  until  December  17,  1798.  Blount  did  not 
appear.  Harper  wished  to  follow  the  precedent  of  the  Eng 
lish  law  requiring  the  presence  of  the  accused.^  He  wished 
the  Senate  to  compel  Blount's  presence.  He  was  not  sup 
ported  in  this.§  On  December  24  Ingersoll  and  Dallas  ap 
peared  for  Blount  and  urged  a  lack  of  jurisdiction,  as  im 
peachment  is  permitted  only  against  the  President  or  any 
civil  officer  of  the  United  States,  and  that  a  Senator  is  not 
a  civil  officer.  An  officer  may  not  avoid  punishment  by  re 
signing  his  office. ||  But  Blount  had  been  expelled.  There 
was,  therefore,  no  jurisdiction.  The  reply  of  the  managers 
was  that  a  Senator  is  a  civil  officer,  and  that  impeachment 
is  a  purely  political  proceeding,  aiming  not  so  much  at  the 
punishment  of  the  offender  as  the  security  of  the  State. 
Harper's  argument  is  chiefly  upon  the  point  whether  a  Sena- 

*Porcupine's  Works,  9:  143. 

fWharton,  State  Trials,  p.  200. 

^Foster  on  the  Constitution,  1:  1. 

§Annals  of  Congress,  December  21,  1798. 

| This  was  the  point  involved  in  the  Belknap  case. 


16  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

tor  is  a  civil  officer.*  It  was  contended  by  Bayard  and 
Harper  that  the  nature,  object  and  extent  of  impeachment 
must  be  sought  in  the  common  law  of  England,  whence  it 
was  derived.  Dallas  exclaimed:  "Shall  we,  in  order  to 
decide  questions  respecting  our  dearest  rights,  have  recourse 
to  the  dark  and  barbarous  volumes  of  the  common  law?"t 
This  epithet  applied  to  the  common  law  was  caught  up  by 
Harper  and  used  to  great  effect.  "This,"  he  said,  addressing 
Vice-President  Jefferson,  who  presided  over  the  impeach 
ment  court,  "reminds  me  of  the  worm-eaten  volumes  of  the 
law  of  nations  of  which  we  heard  so  much  in  our  dispute 
with  the  French  Republic.  Citizen  Genet,  when  he  found 
himself  hard  pressed  by  the  authorities  from  the  law  of 
nations  which  our  Secretary  of  State  (Jefferson)  adduced 
against  him,  denied  the  authority  of  Grotius,  Puffendorf  and 
Vattel  and  called  their  works  'worm-eaten  volumes/  whose 
contents,  he  thanked  God,  he  had  long  since  forgotten.  So 
the  ingenious  counsel  for  the  defense,  unable  to  answer  or 
evade  the  arguments  from  the  common  law,  gets  rid  of  them 
at  once  by  a  coup-de-main  a  la  Genet,  and  consigns  them  to 
oblivion  as  dark  and  barbarous  volumes  unworthy  of  the 
light  of  the  new  philosophy."  Harper  proceeds  at  length 
to  show  how  the  common  law  of  England  underlies  the 
whole  of  our  jurisprudence,  and  affects  the  most  vital  issues 
of  our  life,  always  ringing  the  changes  on  the  "dark  and  bar 
barous  volumes  of  the  common  law."  He  supported  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Senate  in  this  case,  and  replied  to  the  ob 
jection  that  no  person  but  an  officer  of  the  United  States  is 
liable  to  impeachment,  and  that  a  Senator  is  not  a  civil 
officer.  When  a  term  as  impeachment,  he  contended,  is 
taken  without  explanation  into  our  Constitution,  every  ques 
tion  respecting  its  meaning  must  be  decided  by  a  reference 
to  the  code  from  whence  it  was  drawn.  All  that  our  Con 
stitution  provides  for  is,  by  whom  impeachments  shall  be 
preferred;  by  whom  and  in  what  manner  the  impeached  shall 
be  tried,  and  what  shall  be  the  punishment.  In  no  case 
shall  punishment  go  beyond  removal  from  office  and  dis 
qualification;  and  in  the  case  of  the  President  and  the  Vice- 
President  and  all  civil  officers  it  shall  not  stop  short  of  re 
moval.  But  as  to  the  persons  who  shall  be  impeached,  be 
sides  those  just  mentioned,  or  as  to  the  offenses  for  which 
they  may  be  impeached,  not  a  word  is  to  be  found  in  the  Con- 

*Wharton,  State  Trials,  1:  296,  et  sq. 

fDallas  had  been  educated  in  England  at  the  Temple. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  17 

stitution.  The  term  was  intended  to  have  the  same  mean* 
ing,  extent  and  force  as  it  has  in  the  common  law  of  Eng 
land.  In  that  law  the  power  of  impeachment  is  unlimited, 
and  extends  to  every  person  and  every  officer.*  Blount  was 
then  impeachable.  But  granting  that  impeachment  is  lim 
ited  to  officers  of  the  Government,  a  Senator  is  an  officer, 
and  so  is  liable  to  impeachment.  It  is  not  true  that  none 
but  civil  officers  are  liable  to  impeachment.  The  Constitu 
tion  contradicts  that.  In  the  case  of  the  President  and 
Vice-President  or  any  civil  officer,  it  was  provided  that  pun 
ishment  should  not  be  less  than  removal,  though  it  might 
be  more.  The  distinction  between  civil  officers  and  other 
officers  may  have  arisen  from  an  opinion  that  there  might 
be  danger  under  some  circumstances  in  removing  from  his 
command  a  military  officer  whom  it  might,  however,  be 
proper  to  censure  or  suspend.  As  to  military  officers,  there 
fore,  a  complete  discretion  was  left  to  the  Senate,  but  not  as 
to  civil  officers.  They,  on  conviction,  must  be  removed. 
Military  officers  may  or  may  not  be  removed,  according  to 
circumstances.  Had  the  Constitution  intended  otherwise  it 
would  have  provided  that  all  civil  officers  and  no  other  per 
sons  shall  be  liable  to  impeachment.  But  if  it  can  be  shown 
that  a  Senator  is  an  officer  of  the  United  States  and  that  a 
seat  in  the  Senate  is  an  office,  it  will  follow  that  the  defend 
ant  is  liable  to  impeachment.  Harper  then  goes  on  to  prove 
that  a  Senator  is  an  officer  and  a  civil  officer  of  the  United 
States.  The  Constitution,  he  held,  uses  the  term  office  in 
the  most  general  sense.  According  to  its  derivation  office 
signified  duty  or  employment.  If  the  duties  relate  to  the 
Civil  Government,  the  office  is  a  civil  office.  A  Senator  is  a 
civil  officer,  since  he  holds  a  post  which  requires  the  per 
formance  of  some  duty  of  a  public  nature  relating  to  the 
Civil  Government.  As  the  duties  of  the  President  comprise 
both  the  civil  and  the  military  departments,  he  would  not 
have  been  included  in  the  designation  civil  officer.  It  was, 
therefore,  necessary  to  name  him  expressly.  It  is  only  nec 
essary  to  show  that  a  Senator  is  an  officer  of  the  United 
States.  The  contention  that  a  Senator  cannot  be  considered 
nn  officer  because  there  could  be  no  quo  warranto  to  remove 
him  from  his  place  nor  mandamus  to  place  him  in  it  is  of  no 
force,  since  the  same  thing  applies  to  the  President,  Judges, 
Secretaries  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army.  A  Sena 
tor,  then,  was,  in  Harper's  view,  a  civil  officer  of  the  United 

*Dr.  Sacheverell  was  impeached  in  1709  for  preaching  a  certain 
sermon.  Foster  on  the  Constitution,  p.  1:  590;  Lecky,  Hist.  Eng.,  1: 
51  sq. 


18  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

States  and  so  liable  to  impeachment.  Senator  Blount 
should  therefore  be  tried  under  the  articles  preferred  against 
him.*  When  the  vote  was  taken  (January  10)  it  was  decided 
(14  to  11)  that  Blount  was  not  impeachable,  because  he  was 
not  a  civil  officer  of  the  United  States.  January  25,  1798, 
Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison  that  "Blount's  affair  is 
to  come  on  next.  This  will  be  made  the  occasion  of  offering 
a  clause  for  the  introduction  of  juries  into  these  trials." 
(February  8).  "But  many  great  preliminary  questions  will 
arise.  Must  not  a  formal  law  settle  the  oath  of  the  Senator? 
Form  of  pleadings,  process  against  persons  and  goods.  May 
he  not  appear  by  attorney?  Must  he  not  be  tried  by  jury? 
Is  a  Senator  impeachable?  Is  an  ex-Senator  impeachable ?f 
Harper's  position  in  this  first  impeachment  case  was:  1,  the 
impeached  must  be  present;  2,  his  presence  may  be  com 
pelled  ;  3,  a  Senator  is  a  civil  officer  of  the  United  States  and 
is  liable  to  impeachment;  4,  the  impeached  cannot  escape 
trial  by  resignation  or  expulsion.  On  the  first  and  second 
points  the  Senate  decided  against  Harper;  on  the  third,  also, 
but  the  decision  has  not  been  wholly  acquiesced  in.  The 
fourth  point  was  not  passed  upon,  but  Harper's  position  was 
sound,  and  was  the  view  held  by  the  majority  of  the  court 
in  the  Belknap  case. 

The  second  impeachment  in  the  history  of  the  United 
States  was  that  of  Judge  John  Pickering,  of  the  Federal 
District  Court  of  New  Hampshire.  This  case  has  appealed 
to  the  sympathies  of  many.  It  appealed  to  Harper,  who  had 
now  retired  from  Congress,  and  was  gaining  eminence  at  the 
bar.  The  articles  of  impeachment  presented  by  Nicholson 
and  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,|  charged  irregular  pro 
ceedings  in  Admiralty  Jurisdiction  and  loose  morals  and 
intemperate  habits.  § 

*It  appears  that  all  that  Harper  proved  was  that  members  of  the 
State  Legislatures  were  officers  of  the  State  choosing  them.  He  did 
not  prove  that  the  Senator  from  a  State  is  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  Government.  Blount  contended  that  a  Senator  is  an  officer 
of  the  State  choosing  him,  but  not  of  the  United  States,  by  whom 
he  was  not  chosen.  Harper's  attempt  to  explain  Art.  1,  Sec.  6,  of 
the  Constitution  was  also  futile. 

tFebruary  15.  Of.  Ford's  Edition  of  the  writings  of  Jefferson,  7: 
192  to  193;  198  to  199:  202  to  203. 

JMarch  3,  1803,  Annals  of  Congress,  1803-4,  p.  15. 

§The  testimony  in  the  case  is  very  graphic;  see  Annals  of  Con 
gress,  1803-4,  p.  351.  Judge  Pickering  had  declared  in  the  Admiralty 

case  "that  he  could  finish  the  business  in  four  minutes."  I  am 

drunk,  but  I  will  be  sober  by  morning."  The  attorney  said  he  claimed 
an  appeal.  The  judge  replied,  "Appeal  and  be ."  He  gave  the 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  19 

March  2, 1804,  Judge  Pickering  was  called  three  times,  but 
he  did  not  appear.*  Instead,  a  letter  was  presented  from  Har 
per,  enclosing  a  petition  from  Pickering  and  begging  that  the 
trial  be  deferred.  Harper  appeared  at  the  request  of  Judge 
Pickering's  son  to  support  the  petition,  if  he  should  be  al 
lowed  to  do  so.  The  son  was  too  poor  to  send  witnesses,  and 
Judge  Pickering's  insanity  prevented  his  taking  any  action. 
For  these  reasons  Harper  begged  the  privilege  of  acting  for 
the  impeached.  The  managers  strongly  opposed  Harper's  ap 
pearing,  and  the  Senate  deliberated  nearly  all  day  on  the 
admission  of  Harper.  John  Quincy  Adams,  a  member  of 
the  6enate,f  wrote  that  "the  most  determined  and  persever 
ing  opposition  is  made  against  having  evidence  and  counsel 
to  prove  the  man  insane,  only  for  fear  that  if  insanity  should 
be  proved  he  cannot  be  convicted  of  high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors.  Motion  was  made  to  assign  him  counsel  to 
plead  not  guilty,  and  gave  insanity  as  evidence  in  mitiga 
tion,  as  though  an  insane  man  could  plead  guilty  or  not 
guilty."$  When  the  managers  had  retired  from  the  Senate 
Chamber,  the  Senate  heard  Harper  in  support  of  the  peti 
tion.  He  read  affidavits  in  proof  of  Pickering's  insanity, 
and  he  "humbly  presumed,  after  testimony  so  direct  and  so 
conclusive,  scarcely  a  doubt  could  possibly  remain  as  to  the 
insanity  of  this  most  unfortunate  man;  it  cannot  be  neces 
sary  to  prove  that  our  laws  except  the  insane  from  prosecu 
tion."  Judge  Pickering,  Harper  said,  was  insane  at  the 
time  the  offenses  charged  were  committed,  and  he  was  ready 
to  prove  this  if  he  should  be  allowed  the  privilege.  He  could 
show  that  before  his  loss  of  reason  Judge  Pickering  had 
been  a  man  of  unquestioned  purity,  excellence  and  ability. 
"When  this  court  shall  take  into  consideration  the  situation 
of  the  respondent,  oppressed  with  infirmities  and  incapable 
of  making  arrangement  for  his  defense,  the  inclemency  of 
the  season,  his  great  distance  from  the  place  of  trial  and  the 
shortness  of  the  notice;  when  your  honors  reflect  on  the  high 
and  atrocious  crime  with  which  he  is  charged,  in  the  decision 
of  which  is  involved  not  his  life — his  remains  of  life  would 
be  but  a  slender  sacrifice — but  that  which  is  dearer  than  life 
itself,  his  good  name;  when  you  advert  to  the  consequences 

court's  decision  and  said,  "My  decree  is  like  those  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  irrevocable."  The  counsel  objected  to  this,  and  begged  to  be 
indulged  with  a  few  remarks.  "Certainly,"  said  the  judge;  "go  on  to 
all  eternity." 

*Annals  of  Congress,  1803-4,  p.  327,  Memoirs  of  John  Quincy 
Aflame,  1:  298. 

t Memoirs,  1:  298.  ^Memoirs,  1:  299. 


20  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

of  a  conviction,  the  indelible  stigma  which  will  befall  a 
numerous  family,  whose  only  patrimony  is  the  unsullied 
reputation  of  their  parent,  when  your  honors  shall  think 
of  these  things,  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  this  court  will 
permit  a  respondent  who  is  incapable  of  defending  himself 
to  be  defended  by  his  friends."  The  dilemma  of  the  man 
agers  was  between  the  determination  to  remove  the  man  on 
impeachment,  though  he  was  insane,  and  the  fear  that  the 
evidence  of  his  insanity  and  the  argument  of  counsel  might 
affect  the  popularity  of  the  measure.  At  least,  so  it  seemed 
to  Senator  Adams.  He  further  adds  that  the  managers 
lamented  that  they  had  to  present  such  a  character  as  Pick 
ering  to  the  judgment  of  the  Senate,  but  that  the  proof  was 
so  strong  and  full  against  him  that  they  should  make  no  ob 
servation  upon  it.*  The  close  of  the  trial  is  graphically  de 
scribed  by  John  Qumcy  Adams. f  "The  time  fixed  for  pro 
nouncing  judgment  was  already  past.  The  managers  and 
the  whole  House  of  Representatives  were  at  the  door  of  the 
Senate  waiting.  Amid  confusion  and  with  precipitation  a 
form  was  adopted.!  The  doors  were  thrown  open  and  the 
whole  House  of  Representatives  came  in  with  their  Speaker 
at  their  head.  The  question  of  guilty  was  taken  on  each 
article  separately."  The  result  was  each  time  the  same,  19 
yeas  and  7  nays.  The  removal  from  office  quickly  followed 
and  the  court  adjourned.  The  second  impeachment  trial 
was  ended. 

The  first  impeachment  had  concerned  the  legislative  de 
partment  of  the  Government.  The  second  had  to  do  with 
the  judicial  branch.  This  was  the  first  impeachment  trial  to 
be  carried  through.  Blount's  case  was  managed  by  the  Fed 
eralists.  Pickering's  trial  was  an  attack  of  the  victorious 
Republicans  upon  the  defeated  Federalists.  The  same  was 
true  in  the  Chase  impeachment.  The  Federalists  were 
greatly  alarmed  at  the  result  of  Pickering's  impeachment. 
John  Quincy  Adams  employed  one  day  in  writing  to  Colonel 
Pickering  of  a  plan  of  declaration  to  be  subscribed  by  those 
Senators  who  disapproved  of  the  proceedings  in  the  Picker 
ing  case.§  January  29,  1804,  Pickering  had  written  to 
Cabot 1 1  that  "Mr.  Jefferson's  plan  of  destruction  has  been 

*Testimony  for  Judge  Pickering  might  have  been  had  in  abundance 
had  Harper  been  heard  by  the  managers. 
fMemoirs,  1:  308. 
j Memoirs,  1:  297. 
§  Memoirs,  1:  303. 
|| Lodge's  Cabot,  p.  337. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  21 

gradually  advancing.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  practicability 
of  a  long  protracted  union.  A  Northern  Confederacy  would 
unite  congenial  characters  and  present  a  better  prospect  of 
public  happiness.  I  greatly  doubt  whether  prudence  should 
suffer  the  connection  to  continue  much  longer.  The  viola 
tion  of  the  Constitution  in  the  arbitrary  removal  of  the 
judges  may  hasten  such  a  crisis."  The  part  taken  by  Harper 
in  the  Pickering  impeachment  was  more  a  friendly  effort  in 
behalf  of  the  helpless  than  the  work  of  the  advocate.  His 
plea  was  not  admitted  by  the  managers,  yet  posterity  is  far 
from  deciding  against  it. 

The  dramatic  feature  of  the  closing  session  of  the  Eighth 
Congress  was  the  impeachment  of  Justice  Chase.  Upon  its 
issue  seemed  to  hang  the  last  hope  of  the  national  judiciary, 
if  not  of  the  nation.*  Chase  was  personally  an  upright, 
learned  and  able  man,  who  had  grown  gray  in  his  country's 
service.  He  had  signed  the  Declaration  of  July  4,  1776.f 
He  had  been  an  ardent  Democrat  until  Washington,  against 
advice,!  appointed  him  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.§ 
He  then  became  an  ardent  Federalist.  His  ill  temper  was 
the  occasion  of  his  trouble.  His  motives  seemed  to  have 
been  pure,  but  his  actions  were  prejudiced  by  political  opin 
ion.  In  the  charge  to  the  grand  jury  in  Baltimore||  he  used 
very  extravagant  and  abusive  language,  and  much  of  it  was 
pointedly  directed  against  the  Republicans,  then  in  power. 
In  the  court  hearing  the  harangue  was  John  Montgomery ,fi 
who  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Baltimore  American,  June  13,  1803, 
upon  the  liability  to  impeachment  of  Chase  for  alleged  mis 
behavior  in  office.  A  cry  for  impeachment  here  begun  found 
ready  ears  in  Congress.  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  the 
Republican  leader  of  the  House,  moved  to  impeach  Chase 
(January  4,  1804).  He  reported  (March  26,  1804),  the  eight 
articles  of  impeachment  charging  the  Justice  with  act 
ing  on  the  bench  in  an  arbitrary  and  unjust  manner,  so 
that  a  prisoner  was  condemned  to  death  without  having 
been  defended  by  counsel,  and  with  using  rude  expression! 
towards  counsel,**  and  with  delivering  opinions  highly  inde- 

*Schouler,  History  of  the  United  States,  2,  76. 
t Biography  of  the  Signers,  9:  190. 
tWharton,  State  Trials,  p.  43. 
§  Spark's  Washington,  II,  107,  240. 
f|May  2,  1803,  Annals  of  Congress  1804-5,  p.  675. 
IfMcMaster,  History  of  the  United  States,  3,  170,  Annals  1804-5,  231. 
**These  charges  referred  to  the  trial  of  Fries  and  Collendar  in  May, 
1800,  under  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws. 


22  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

cent,  tending  to  prostitute  the  judicial  character  with 
which  he  was  invested  to  the  low  purpose  of  an  electioneer 
ing  partisan.  This  was  the  real  offense.  The  impeachment 
court  was  held  Jan.  2,  1805.  Chase  appeared  and  made  a 
speech  and  showed  his  characteristic  ill  temper  by  observ 
ing  that  they,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  "were  pul 
ing  in  their  nurse's  arms,"  whilst  he  was  contributing  his 
utmost  aid  to  lay  the  groundwork  of  American  liberty.* 
Aaron  Burr  was  Vice-President  and  he  "presided  with  the 
impartiality  of  an  angel  and  the  rigor  of  a  devil. "f  The 
counsel  for  Chase  were  Harper,  Joseph  Hopkins,  Philip  B. 
Key,  Charles  Lee,  and  Luther  Martin.  The  trial  began  Feb. 
4,  1805,  and  Harper  and  Hopkins  presented  the  defense  of 
Chase.  Chase's  answer  to  the  articles  had  been  prepared 
by  Harper,J  and  maintained  that  there  was  no  high  crime 
or  misdemeanor  particularly  alleged  in  the  articles  to  which 
Chase  was  bound  by  law  to  answer, §  and  that  in  the  trial 
of  Fries  if  Chase  erred  he  followed  precedent  and  should 
not  therefore  be  held  guilty.  ||  Harper  contended  that  only 
civil  officers  are  subject  to  impeachment  and  then  only  for 
acts  done  in  violation  of  some  law.  No  civil  officer  can  be 
indicted  except  for  an  indictable  offense.  These  were  the 
same  views  that  he  had  set  forth  in  the  Blount  case.  To 
the  real  onus  of  the  impeachment,  the  political  harangue 
of  the  judge,  Harper  and  Hopkinson  replied  that  there  was 
no  law  which  forbade  such  speeches,  and  without  the 
breach  of  some  law  there  could  be  no  impeachment.^  It  was 
the  very  essence  of  despotism,  they  said,  to  punish  for  acts 
which  were  forbidden  by  no  law.  Moreover,  it  had  been 
the  practice  ever  since  the  Revolution**  for  the  judges  to 
express  from  the  bench  by  way  of  charge  to  the  grand  jury 
political  opinions.  The  Legislature  had  at  times  recom 
mended  the  practice.  It  was  adopted  by  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  by  not  forbidding  it  Congress  had 
given  it  an  implied  sanction.f  f  To  punish  the  practice  now 
by  impeachment  was  to  make  it  a  crime  by  ex  post  facto 

*The  preparations  for  the  trial  are  graphically  given  by  Charles 
Evans,  Report  of  the  Trial  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Chase,  &c.,  Bal 
timore,  1805,  p.  3,  Annals  of  Congress  1804-5,  p.  100. 

fParton,  Life  of  Andrew  Jackson,  1:  309. 

JRobert  Walsh,  Jr.,  Enc.  Americana. 

§Annals  1804-5,  p.  102. 

||  Annals  1804-5,  p.  109. 

HAnnals  1804-5,  pp.  146  and  305. 

** Annals  1804-5,  pp.  146  and  305. 

ffAnnals  1804-5,  p.  147. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  23 

proceedings.  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  made  an  eloquent 
reply  on  the  part  of  the  Managers.*  His  line  of  argument 
was  followed  more  or  less  closely  by  the  other  Managers. 
Luther  Martin's  argument  for  Chase  was  the  climax  of  his 
career.f  Harper  went  beyond  his  associates  in  narrowing 
the  field  of  impeachment  into  a  criminal  prosecution,  found 
ed  on  the  violation  of  some  law.  Everything  with  which 
they  were  surrounded  in  that  chamber,  he  said,  showed  that 
it  was  a  court  of  law  and  the  whole  transaction  was  a  trial 
of  a  criminal  case  on  legal  principle.  The  Managers  them 
selves  resort  to  legal  authorities  to  prove  the  acts  charged 
to  be  impeachable  offenses.  The  authorities  sanctioned  by 
the  practice  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  proves  the  prin 
ciple  for  which  Harper  contended,  both  English  and  Ameri 
can  legal  authorities  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  shows  that  impeachment  is  not  an  inquiry  into  the 
qualification  of  officers,  but  is  a  criminal  prosecution  of  the 
violation  of  some  law.  No  offense  is  impeachable  unless  it  be 
proved  to  be  the  proper  subject  of  indictment.  "The  Consti 
tution  is  a  limited  branch  of  power  not  expressly  or  by  nec 
essary  implication  granted  away.  When,  therefore,  the  Con 
stitution  declares  for  what  act  an  officer  shall  be  impeached, 
it  gives  power  to  impeach  him  for  those  acts,  and  all  power 
to  impeach  him  for  any  other  act  is  withheld."  "This  provis 
ion  of  the  Constitution,  therefore,  must  be  considered  as  a 
declaration  that  no  impeachment  shall  lie,  except  for  a  crim 
inal  violation  of  some  law."  In  the  State  Constitutions,  also, 
impeachment  has  been  considered  a  criminal  prosecution 
for  defined  offenses.  This  is  a  sheet  anchor  or  personal 
rights  and  political  privileges.  Without  it  everything  is 
treason  if  tried  before  the  party  in  power  when  unfavorable 
to  the  impeached.  Nothing  is  treason  when  tried  by  friends. 
When  the  law  defining  offenses  is  fixed  and  certain  every 
man  is  safe,  but  when  passion  and  political  views  enter  a 
trial  justice  is  gone. 

The  effort  of  Harper  and  his  colleagues  were  crowned  with 
success.  The  principle  that  impeachment  applied  only  to 
indictable  offenses  was  sustained.  The  court  declared  that 
"Samuel  Chase  stands  acquitted  of  all  the  articles  exhibited 
against  him."$  It  has  been  maintained  that  the  impeach 
ment  of  Justice  Chase  is  a  landmark  in  American  history, 

*Annals  1804-5,  pp.  151  and  153. 

tH.  Adams,  Hist,  of  U.  S.,  2,  232,  Annals  1804-5,  p.  429. 

JAnnals  1804-5,  p.  669. 


24:  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

because  it  overthrew  the  Jeffersonian  Republicans  in  their 
last  aggressive  battle  for  the  popular  control  of  the  ju 
diciary.*  The  failure  of  the  impeachment  also  overthrew 
the  authority  of  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke.  He  hurried 
from  the  impeachment  court  to  the  House  with  an  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  providing  that  "the  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  and  all  other  courts  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  removed  by  the  President  on  the  joint  address  by 
both  Houses  of  Congress."  Nicholson  moved  another 
amendment  that  "The  Legislature  of  any  State  might  when 
ever  it  thought  proper  recall  a  Senator  and  vacate  his 
seat.f  In  the  opinion  of  Jefferson!  it  proved  impeachment 
to  be  a  mere  scarecrow  and  "made  a  judiciary  feel  secure  in 
undermining  our  confederated  fabric  by  construing  our 
Constitution  from  a  co-ordination  of  a  general  and  especial 
government  to  a  general  and  supreme  one  alone."  Mar 
shall  was  henceforth  safe  in  fixing  his  principles  of  Consti 
tutional  law.  No  point  of  law  was  decided  by  the  trial. 
The  theory  of  Randolph  was  still  intact,  while  Harper  and 
his  colleagues  were  defeated  neither  by  argument  nor  by 
the  court's  decision.  Chase  was  declared  innocent  of  any 
impeachable  offence,  and  impeachment  was  seen  to  be  an 
unwieldy  instrument.  It  lay  unused  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  after  this.  The  points  insisted  upon  in  these  trials 
by  Harper  were:  1,  that  the  impeached  must  be  present; 
2,  that  his  presence  may  be  compelled;  3,  that  a  Senator  is 
a  civil  officer  and  is  liable  to  impeachment;  4,  the  impeached 
cannot  escape  trial  by  resignation  or  expulsion;  5,  that  the 
friends  of  the  impeached  may  take  up  his  defense  if  he  is 
incapacitated ;  6,  that  impeachment  cannot  be  against  those 
who  are  legally  incapable  of  pleading  guilty  or  not  guilty; 

7,  that  the  English  law  and  customs  are  to  be  observed  as 
precedents  in  interpreting    the    Constitutional  provisions; 

8,  only  indictable  offenses,  violations  of  some  law,  are  im 
peachable;  9,  impeachment  is  not  an  inquiry  into  qualifica 
tion  for  office,  but  is  a  criminal  prosecution. 

Harper  left  Congress  with  the  downfall  of  the  Federalists 
in  March,  1801. 

In  May  he  was  married  to  Miss  Catherine  Carroll,  daugh 
ter  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton.  Large  debts  growing 
out  of  land  speculations  had  greatly  interefered  with  his 
winning  the  hand  of  Miss  Carroll.  Her  father  was  stren- 

*H.  Adams,  Life  of  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  p.  131. 
|H.  Adams,  Hist,  of  the  U.  S.,  2,  240;  Hildreth,  U.  S.,  5,  544. 
JWorks  7,  192. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  25 

uously  opposed  to  the  match.  But  Harper  now  enjoyed  the 
good  offices  of  Mr.  Eichard  Caton,  Mr.  Carroll's  son-in-law, 
who  knew  how  to  sympathize  with  him.  The  correspond 
ence  between  Mr.  Carroll  and  Mr.  Harper  was  straightfor 
ward  and  reflects  credit  upon  Mr.  Harper.  It  was  under 
these  circumstances  that  Harper  prepared  the  sketch  of  his 
life,  which  has  been  used  in  this  article. 

He  settled  in  Baltimore  and  devoted  himself  to  his  prac 
tice.  His  residence  was  on  Gay  street,  near  Water  street. 
Harper  now  enjoyed  an  income  of  from  seven  to  ten  thou 
sand  dollars  a  year,  and  his  wife  brought  him  a  large  dowery 
in  lands. 

Soon  after  settling  in  Baltimore,  Harper  came  out  in  a 
pamphlet  signed  "Bystander,"  in  which  he  advocated  the 
election  of  Presidential  electors  by  the  Legislature  instead 
of  by  popular  vote.  Roger  Brooke  Taney  speaks  of  the 
pamphlet  as  having  the  force  and  eloquence  for  which  Har- 
p-^r  was  known.  "It  convinced  me,"  he  said,  "and  I  at  once 
took  grounds  in  favor  of  the  measure.  Some  of  the  Federal 
ists  objected  to  it,  and  it  was  attacked  by  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Jefferson."* 

Justice  Story  frequently  saw  Harper  in  Washington  at 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  describes  him  as  "diffuse,  but  me 
thodical  and  clear.  He  argues  with  considerable  warmth, 
and  seems  to  depend  upon  the  deliberate  suggestions  of  his 
mind.  I  am  inclined  to  think  he  studies  his  cases  with  great 
diligence,  and  is  to  be  considered  as  in  some  degree  arti- 

ficial."f 

Baltimore,  at  the  time  of  Harper's  locating  there,  was  a 
town  of  31,000  people,}  but  it  was  without  an  adequate  water 
supply.  Wells  and  springs  were  depended  upon.§  In  April, 
1804,  Harper  was  appointed  on  a  committee,  embracing 
many  familiar  names  in  the  city's  history,  to  report  a  plan 
and  constitution  of  a  water  company.  ||  Harper  and  others 
were  appointed  to  open  subscription  books  for  the  stock. 
But  only  when  they  had  used  their  personal  influence  was 
the  stock  taken  and  the  company  organized,  May  24,  1804. 
The  directors  of  the  company  were  John  McKim,  Sr.,  James 
A.  Buchanan,  Jonathan  Ellicott,  Solomon  Etting,  John  Don- 

*Tyler,  Memoir  of  Taney,  p.  91. 
t Story,  "Life  of  W.  W.  Story,"  1:  162,  214,  252,  279. 
JGrifflth,  "Annals  of  Baltimore." 
§Scharf,  "Baltimore  City  and  County,"  p.  213. 
||  Griffith,  "Annals  of  Baltimore,  p.  3,  171.     Scharf,  "Baltimore  City 
and  County,"  p.  213. 


26  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

nell,  William  Cooke,  James  Mosher  and  Kobert  Goodloe 
Harper.*  The  Baltimore  Water  Company  remained  in  ex 
istence  until  1853.f 

In  1815  Harper  co-operated  with  prominent  business  men 
in  forming  The  Baltimore  Exchange  Company.  January  25, 
1816,  the  company  was  incorporated  and  authorized  to  erect 
the  Baltimore  Exchange.  Harper  was  one  of  the  first  Board 
of  Directors.!  The  exchange  was  said  at  the  time  to  have 
had  no  rival  in  America.  Benj.  H.  Latrobe,  the  architect  of 
the  cathedral,  furnished  the  design. § 

Harper  was  not  only  public-spirited,  and  interested  in  the 
improvement  of  his  adopted  city,  he  also  took  great  interest 
in  its  social  affairs.  In  1810  we  find  him  one  of  the  manag 
ers  of  the  Baltimore  Dancing  Assembly.  The  assembly  was 
an  old  organization.  The  lower  floor  of  the  assembly  rooms 
at  Holliday  and  Fayette  streets  was  occupied  by  the  Balti 
more  Library  Company.  In  this  company  were  William 
Wirt,  Archbishop  Carroll,  J.  P.  Kennedy,  Robert  Goodloe 
Harper,  William  Gwynn  and  others.  The  home  of  William 
Gwynn  was  also  the  home  of  the  earliest  Baltimore  club, 
the  Delphian  Club,  which  met  at  "Gwynn's  Folly"  or  "Tuscu- 
lum,"  in  the  rear  of  Barnum's  Hotel.  Some  of  the  papers 
of  the  Delphian  Club  may  still  be  seen  in  their  "Red  Book," 
which  was  published  fortnightly  during  1818-1819.  Harper 
was  a  member  of  the  Delphian  Club,  and  there  met  with 
John  Neal,  later  a  writer  for  Blackwood's  Magazine,  and 
who  spoke  in  praise  of  Harper's  writings;  Jared  Sparks,  the 
historian  and  biographer,  who  ably  supported  Harper's  col 
onization  plans,  1 1  and  Francis  Scott  Key.  The  list  of  distin 
guished  associates  Harper  found  at  the  Delphian  Club  is 
long,  and  includes  the  authors  of  such  familiar  verses  as 
"Home,  Sweet  Home,"  "Old  Oaken  Bucket,"  "Airs  of  Pales 
tine,"  and  "Rock  Me  to  Sleep,  Mother."fl 

In  General  Harper's  law  office  in  1808  was  Robert  Walsh, 
Jr.  (1784-1859),  who  afterwards  wrote  for  Francis  Lieber'a 
Americana  Encyclopedia  a  biographical  sketch  of  Harper, 
among  other  Americans.  Walsh,  in  1811,  started  the  first 
quarterly  ever  published  in  the  United  States,  "The  Ameri 
can  Review  of  History  and  Politics."  The  Review  only 

*Griffith,  "Annals  of  Baltimore,"  171. 
tScharf,  "Baltimore  City  and  County,"  215. 
^Griffith,  "Annals  of  Baltimore,"  214. 
§Scharf,  "Baltimore  City  and  County,"  437. 
H  North  American  Review,  Jan.  1824. 
HScharf,  "Baltimore  City  and  County." 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  27 

lived  two  years.  In  November,  1810,  Walsh  wrote  to  Har 
per  that  the  Keview  was  recommended  by  the  most  distin 
guished  Federalists,  and  he  hoped  it  would  meet  with  Har 
per's  approval.  "I  shall  rely  on  your  assistance  in  promot 
ing  the  work  not  only  in  Baltimore,  but  in  the  South,  where 
you  have  so  many  friends."* 

At  a  dinner  in  Georgetown,  June  5,  1813,  in  honor  of  re 
cent  Russian  victories,  Harper  gave  as  a  toast  "Alexander 
the  Deliverer."  Walsh  replied  to  this  speech  when  pub 
lished,  claiming  that  the  military  character  of  Napoleon  had 
been  underrated,  and  that  Harper  had  failed  to  point  out 
the  dangers  of  Russian  ascendancy.  This  provoked  a  long 
correspondence,  which  was  published.  Walsh  says  that 
General  Harper  was  a  diligent  student  of  literature,  history, 
geography,  travels,  statistics,  moral  philosophy,  political 
science,  and  especially  of  political  economy.  No  one  was 
better  acquainted  with  foreign  affairs  than  General  Harper. 

In  1814,  Harper  published  two  columns  of  "Select  Works." 
These  consist  of  speeches  on  political  and  forensic  subjects, 
and  political  tracts,  which  had  previously  appeared  as 
pamphlets  or  addresses.f 

His  "Observations  on  the  Dispute  with  France,"  Walsh 
says,  "acquired  great  celebrity  at  home  and  passed  through 
several  editions  in  England,  and  was  esteemed  over  Europe 
one  of  the  ablest  productions  of  the  crisis." 

In  1819-1820  General  Harper  made  an  extensive  tour  in 
England,  France  and  Italy.J  In  1820  Princeton  College 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.§  Robert 

*MS.  letter  in  Johns  Hopkins  University,  in  "Walsh's  Appeal  from 
the  Judgment  of  Great  Britain,"  1819,  the  first  pro-slavery  work  ever 
published. 

t'Among  the  titles  are  "Address  to  His  Constituents,"  a  defense 
of  the  Jay  Treaty,  Philadelphia,  1795;  "Observations  on  the  Dispute 
between  the  United  States  and  France,"  London,  1797;  "Correspond 
ence  with  George  Nicholas  on  His  Political  Conduct  in  the  Sixth 
Congress,"  Lexington,  Ky.,  1799;  "Correspondence  with  Robert 
Walsh,  Jr.,"  Philadelphia,  1813;  "Address  in  Favor  of  the  Potomac 
Canal,"  1824;  "Oration  on  the  Birth  of  Washington,"  Alexandria, 
1810;  "Speech  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Recent  Triumph  of  Man 
kind  in  Germany,"  Alexandria,  1814;  "Letter  to  the  Colonization 
Society,"  Baltimore,  1818;  and  "Arguments  on  the  Blount  and  Chase 
Impeachments." 

$While  in  Rome  a  bust  of  the  General  was  executed  by  Trentanove. 
Copies  of  this  bust,  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Clapham  Pen- 
nington,  are  at  the  Peabody  Library,  Maryland  Historical  Society's 
Rooms,  and  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

§Letter  from  Dr.  J.  O.  Murray,  Princeton  University,  February  10, 
1898. 


28  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

Walsh  describes  him  at  this  time  as  being  above  the  middle 
stature,  well  shaped,  muscular,  erect  and  active  in  habits.  He 
was  warm-hearted,  tender  and  generous.  He  gave  aid, 
praise  and  sympathy,  showed  elegant  hospitality  and  en 
joyed  young  and  gay  society.  He  was  a  brilliant  conversa 
tionalist;  an  animated  and  sufficiently  fluent  and  very  per 
spicuous  orator.  He  had  a  facility  in  applying  general  prin 
ciples  and  in  seizing  the  moment  of  excited  curiosity  for  ex 
hibiting  motives  or  consequences. 

When  the  British  attacked  Baltimore  in  1814,  Harper, 
who  had  held  a  commission  in  a  voluntary  artillery  com 
pany,*  greatly  exerted  himself  at  the  battle  of  North  Point 
He  was  in  the  hottest  of  the  fight.f  In  October,  1814,  he 
was  commissioned  Major-General  of  the  forces  of  Maryland. 
When  the  corner-stone  of  the  Battle  Monument  was  laid, 
September  13,  1815,  General  Harper  was  in  command,^  and 
likewise  on  the  occasion  of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Washington  Monument,  July  4,  1816. 

When  Lafayette  visited  Baltimore  in  1824,  General  Harper 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  very  elaborate  ceremonies. § 

On  January  27,  1816,  General  Harper  was  elected  United 
States  Senator  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Delegates  of 
Maryland.]]  The^Senator  took  his  seat  February  5,  1816.fi 
No  measure  of  great  importance  arose  during  the  session, 
but  wherever  issues  arose  Harper  was  heard.  A  few  days 
after  his  entrance  he  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  bring 
in  a  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  law  library  at  the  Capi 
tal,**  for  the  use  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States; 
and,  also,  a  bill  for  limiting  the  right  of  appeal  and  writ  of 
error  from  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States.ff  An 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  had  been  proposed  regard 
ing  the  mode  of  choosing  Representatives  and  Electors.  Har- 

*Griffith,  "Annals  of  Baltimore,"  212. 

tParkins,  "History  of  the  War  of  1812,  341.     Niles'  Register. 

$Scharf,  "Baltimore  City  and  County,"  p.  268. 

§Mr.  Levasseur,  Lafayette  in  Amerique,  2:  1,  described  the  occa 
sion: 

"Le  General  Harper  ouvrit  la  stance  par  un  discours  fort  instruc- 
tif  sur  les  progrSs  et  1'etat  actuel  de  I'agriculture  dans  le  Mary 
land  *  *  *  Le  mgme  jour  (Dimanche)  le  corps  d'officiers  des 
milices  fut  presents  par  le  general  Harper,  qui  prononga  un  discours 
dont  le  passage  suivant  me  parut  tout  &  fait  remarqu&ble,"  etc. 

||  Votes  and  proceedings  of  the  Senate,  page  3,  of  the  House,  page 
8,  December  session,  1816. 

HBenton,  "Abridgment,"  5:  460. 

**Annals  of  Congress,  1816-17,  p.  136. 

tfAnnals  of  Congress,  1816,  p.  136. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  29 

per  was  a  supporter  of  the  proposed  change,  on  the  ground 
that  the  amendment  would  make  the  election  of  the  Presi 
dent  less  a  matter  of  juggle  and  intrigue  than  it  then  was. 
Party  bargains  would  not  be  so  easy  between  state  and  state 
for  the  great  offices.  Districting  the  states  for  the  election 
of  Electors  would  tend  to  render  the  choice  more  free  and 
independent.*  He  opposed  the  election  of  the  President 
solely  by  the  popular  vote,  because  that  threw  out  of  view 
the  Federal  principle  by  which  the  sovereignty  of  the  states 
were  represented.  It  weuld  destroy  the  influence  of  the 
smaller  states  and  multiply  the  principle  of  compromise  on 
which  our  Constitution  rests.f  When  a  bill  was  presented 
for  the  incorporation  of  the  Washington  Female  Orphan 
Asylum  Harper  opposed  it,  because  he  thought  it  contrary 
to  the  whole  course  of  our  laws,  and  a  strange  anomaly  to 
see  a  body  politic  made  up  wholly  of  married  women. $  The 
proposed  change  of  pay  to  Senators  and  Representatives 
from  six  dollars  a  day  to  fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  year  and 
to  deduct  from  this  an  amount  in  proportion  for  absence  or 
irregularity  was  opposed  by  some  as  being  extravagant.  It 
would  double  former  allowances  and  would  be  larger  pay 
than  many  of  the  states  give  to  their  principal  officers.  The 
change  proposed  found  a  champion  in  Harper,  and  it  was 
carried. §  Although  the  session  of  the  Senate  afforded  Gen 
eral  Harper  no  adequate  field  for  his  abilities,  yet  a  speech 
he  made  April  4  is  noteworthy  when  read  in  the  light  of  re 
cent  events.  The  occasion  was  a  proposed  amendment  to  a 
navigation  bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Bibb,  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs.  |j  The  bill  proposed  to  confine  American 
navigation  to  American  seamen.  Harper's  amendment  to 
this  had  for  its  object  the  gradual  exclusion  from  the  navy 
and  from  the  merchant  service  all  those  who  were  not  na 
tive  or  at  that  time  already  naturalized  citizens  of  the  United 
States,^  and  also  the  compelling  of  merchant  vessels  to  keep 
on  board  a  number  of  American  apprentices.  The  exclusion 
of  foreign  sailors,  he  said,  would  save  us  from  more  trouble 
about  impressment,  and  the  American  apprentices  would 
furnish  skillful  seamen  in  time  of  war,  especially  war  with 

*Annals,  1816-17;  p.  221. 
f  Annals,  1816-17;  p.  225. 
$Annals,  p.  189. 
§  Annals,  1816 '1817;  p.  203. 
||  Annals,  p.  372. 

IfAnnals,  1815-16;  p.  229.     He  later  withdrew  his  amendment,  An 
nals,  p.  297. 


30  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

England,  then  apparently  impending.*  The  United  States 
asserted  it  as  a  right  to  incorporate  foreigners  into  our  na 
tion  by  naturalizing  them.  This  drew  them  from  their  na 
tive  allegiance.  The  United  States  had  made  an  advance 
beyond  other  nations  in  holding  that  these  naturalized  citi 
zens  of  hers  must  be  protected  to  the  same  extent  as  native 
citizens.  England  had  from  time  immemorial  held  that  alle 
giance  is  perpetual ;  that  it  cannot  be  alienated  save  by  con 
sent  of  sovereign  and  subject  both.  All  other  governments 
but  the  United  States  held  the  same  doctrine.  How  far 
would  it  be  wise  to  contest  these  principles  when  the  uni 
versal  opinion  of  mankind,  save  in  the  United  States,  was 
against  it?  Zeal  and  sacrifice  of  person  and  property  could 
only  be  expected  of  men  in  a  case  of  which  they  approve.f 
We  could  not  expect  always  to  remain  in  peace.  Conflicts 
from  time  to  time  with  England  seemed  inevitable.  The 
important  matter  was  to  be  ready.  Future  conflicts  would 
be  on  the  sea,  and  on  the  sea  we  were  destined  at  the  last  to 
be  the  supreme  power.t  "There  is  the  true  scene  of  our 
glory."  The  best  support  of  the  power  was  not  ships,  nor 
money,  but  a  brave,  hardy  and  numerous  class  of  native  and 
patriotic  seamen.  It  was  the  man  behind  the  gun.  These 
money  cannot  buy.  Hirelings  can  never  do  what  brave 
patriots  will  do. 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  (December  1,  1816),  General 
Harper,  finding  that  a  conscientious  discharge  of  public  du 
ties  would  rob  him  wholly  of  time  for  his  private  concerns, 
resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  §  He  retired  to  private  life 
and  the  management  of  his  business. 

At  the  election  in  1816,  Harper  had  received  the  votes  of 
Delaware  for  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  and  again 
in  1820. 

On  the  western  coast  of  Africa  is  the  home  of  a  unique 
nation.  The  history  of  this  nation  tells  of  helpless  human 
creatures,  stolen  from  savagery  and  carried  with  untold 
sufferings  over  the  sea  to  be  sold  as  chattels.  Slowly  ex 
changing  there  in  patient  servitude  savagery  for  civiliza 
tion,  they  unconsciously  drew  near  to  a  higher  destiny. 
Again  they  crossed  the  sea,  not  as  naked  savages  worth  so 

*Annals,  p.  284. 
fAnnals,  p.  284. 
JAnnals,  p.  292. 

§December  session,  1816,  Maryland  House  of  Delegates;  Votes  and 
Proceedings,  Senate,  p.  3;  House,  p.  8. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  31 

much  cash,  but  as  carriers  of  the  benefits  of  civilization  to 
their  original  home. 

To-day  these  ex-slaves  are  a  free,  independent  nation,  oc 
cupying  a  territory  three  times  as  large  as  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia.  Their  population  of  nearly  two  millions  live  under 
a  government  modeled  after  that  of  the  greatest  of  republics. 
With  creating  this  peculiar  nation  General  Harper  had 
much  to  do.  Whether  the  scheme  was  Utopian  or  not  is  of 
no  consequence.  The  colony  of  Liberia  must  ever  be  of  in 
terest  as  the  first  and  only  colony  planted  by  the  United 
States.  Liberia  is  of  far  greater  interest  as  an  attempt  to 
cure  the  sore  on  the  body  politic;  an  attempt  which  might 
have  prevented  the  paroxysm  of  1861-5  and  settled  a  ques 
tion  which  looms  upon  the  horizon  to-day. 

It  may  be  plainly  shown  from  the  writings  of  Washington, 
Jefferson,  Madison,  Henry,  Mason  and  many  others  that 
there  long  existed  a  desire  in  the  South  for  the  abolition  of 
negro  slavery.  The  desire  did  not  ripen  into  a  definite  plan. 

On  January  2,  1800,  a  petition  was  presented  to  Congress 
by  the  free  blacks  of  Philadelphia,  in  which  they  protested 
against  the  slave  trade,  and  asked  for  legislation  in  behalf 
of  fugitive  slaves  and  for  steps  looking  to  the  emancipation 
of  slaves. 

This  petition  was  successfully  opposed  by  John  Randolph, 
of  Roanoke,  and  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  prompted  by  religious  fanaticism,  and  that  Congress 
had  no  power  to  act  in  the  premises.* 

Harper's  opposition  was  not,  however,  due  to  any  pro- 
slavery  views,  for  on  May  3  he  advocated  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  coun- 
try.f 

The  Virginia  Legislature,  December  31,  1800,  in  conse 
quence  of  a  slave  conspiracy  about  Richmond,  secretly  re 
quested  Governor  Monroe  to  correspond  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States  on  the  subject  of  buying  lands  without 
the  limits  of  the  United  States,  whither  "persons  obnoxious 
to  the  laws  and  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  society  may  be 
removed."| 

Mr.  Jefferson  favored  the  plan,  and  corresponded  with  the 
British  Government  concerning  Sierra  Leone  and  with  Spain 
regarding  lands  in  South  America.  These  attempts  failed, 


*"Benton's  Abridgment,"  2:  439. 
f'Benton's  Abridgment,"  2:  439. 
$"Benton's  Abridgment,"  2:  477. 


32  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

and  January  22,  1805,  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  lands  in 
Louisiana.* 

Jefferson's  views  are  given  in  a  letter  to  John  Lynd, 
January  21, 1811,  in  which  he  declares  he  has  "ever  thought 
that  Colonization  in  Africa  the  most  desirable  measure  for 
drawing  off  this  part  of  our  population."  "Nothing  is  more 
to  be  wished,"  he  says  in  another  letter,  "than  that  the 
United  States  would  themselves  undertake  to  make  such  an 
establishment  on  the  coast  of  Africa." 

One  of  the  greatest  obstacles  in  the  way  of  manumission 
of  the  slaves  was  the  wretched  condition  of  the  free  blacks. 
Jared  Sparks  said  that  "the  free  people  of  color  are  a  greater 
nuisance  to  society,  more  comfortless,  tempted  to  more  vices, 
and  actually  less  qualified  to  enjoy  existence  than  the  sav 
ages  themselves."f 

John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  was  of  the  opinion  that  "thou 
sands  of  citizens  would  by  manumitting  their  slaves  relieve 
themselves  from  the  cares  attendant  upon  their  possession, 
if  there  were  only  some  means  of  disposing  of  the  free 
blacks.$ 

Here  there  arose  the  need  of  a  movement  towards  coloni 
zation  and  of  colonization  on  a  large  scale.  This  movement 
was  undertaken  by  the  American  Society  for  the  Coloniza 
tion  of  the  Free  People  of  Color. 

Rev.  Robert  Finley  was  the  founder  of  the  American  Col 
onization  Society.  He  went  to  Washington,  and  succeeded 
in  gathering  a  meeting  of  citizens  December  21,  1816.  Henry 
Clay  presided  at  this  meeting.  §  The  society  was  regularly 
organized  and  officered  January  1,  1817. || 

*See  "Mercer's  Report,"  March  3,  1827,  Nineteenth  Congress,  sec 
ond  session;  House  Reports,  No.  101,  and  Birney's  Colonization  Pam 
phlets,  1824-1833,  Vol.  19,  and  Kennedy's  Report,  1843. 

fH.  B.  Adams'  "Life  and  Writings  of  Jared  Sparks,"  1:  248. 

$Mercer's  Report,  Nineteenth  Congress,  second  session,  House  Re 
ports  No.  101,  p.  30.  Virginia  kept  at  the  question  until  her  Legisla 
ture  memorialized  Congress  December  23,  1816.  Maryland,  Tennes 
see  and  Georgia  followed.  H.  B.  Adams,  Life  and  Writings  of  Jared 
Sparks,  1:  252. 

§Dr.  Finley  had  left  Princeton  about  the  time  Harper  was  at  col 
lege.  He  was  afterwards  President  of  the  University  of  Georgia. 
He  published  "Thoughts  on  the  Colonization  of  the  Free  Blacks," 
181G.  "Memoirs  of  Rev.  Robt.  Finley,  D.  D.,"  etc.  By  Rev.  Isaac  V. 
Brown,  A.  M.  New  Brunswick,  1819. 

||  The  first  officers  of  the  society  were  Bushrod  Washington,  Will 
iam  H.  Crawford,  Henry  Clay,  John  Eager  Howard  and  Andrew 
Jackson.  Other  members  were  Daniel  Webster,  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke,  Francis  Scott  Key  and  C.  F.  Mercer.  The  Presidents  of 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  33 

Samuel  J.  Mills,  in  1808,  organized  at  Williams  College, 
for  missionary  work,  a  society,  which  was  soon  transferred 
to  Andover  and  became  eventually  the  American  Bible  So 
ciety  and  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  The 
idea  of  Mills  was  to  colonize  negroes  between  the  Ohio  and 
the  lakes,  or  in  Africa.  When  Mills  went  to  study  theology 
at  Princeton  he  interested  the  Presbyterian  ministers  in  his 
scheme  and  among  them  Dr.  Finley.* 

General  Harper  was  among  the  original  members.f 

In  1803,  Mr.  Latrobe  executed  a  painting  of  the  society's 
colony,  "Maryland  in  Liberia/7  and  hung  it  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  at  Annapolis.? 

The  society  declared  its  objects  to  be  to  promote  and  exe 
cute  a  plan  for  colonizing,  with  their  consent,  the  free  people 
of  color  in  Africa  or  such  other  place  as  Congress  should 
designate^  This  was  the  first  and  only  society  ever  organ 
ized  for  the  explicit  purpose  of  giving  the  negro  perfect  free 
dom,  of  promoting  his  education  for  rhis  own  good,  of  mak 
ing  him  independent,  and  of  elevating  his  race  to  the  stand 
ard  of  a  Christian  nation. || 

But  the  society  met  with  great  opposition^  both  from  slav 
ery  advocates,  who  feared  an  interference  with  their  rights, 
and  from  anti-slavery  men,  who  feared  that  the  society  was 
working  in  the  interest  of  the  slave  trade  to  raise  the  price 
of  slaves  by  reducing  their  number.  Nearly  all  the  noted 
abolitionists  after  1831  had  been  before  that  colonizationists. 

Benjamin  Lundy's  travels  through  North  America  had 
been  for  the  purpose  of  finding  a  location  for  a  free  black 
colony  in  Texas  or  in  Mexico.  James  G.  Birney  was  the 
society's  agent  for  Alabama  and  Tennessee.** 

It  was  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  a  printer  from  Mas 
sachusetts,  who  had  worked  for  Lundy  as  publisher 
of  "  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation "  in  Balti 
more,  who  made  war  on  the  colonization  scheme,  1829-30, 

the  society  have  been  Bushrod  Washington,  1817-1830;  Charles  Car 
roll  of  Carroll  ton,  1830-1833;  James  Madison,  1833-1836;  Henry  Clay, 
1836-1853;  J.  H.  B.  Latrobe,  1853-1891;  Bishop  H.  C.  Potter,  1891- 
1898.  (A.  C.  S.  Reports  and  "Liberia.") 

*  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  9:  497. 

tJ.  H.  B.  Latrobe's  address  in  the  "Semi-Centennial  Report,"  A 
C.  S.,  1867. 

^Baltimore  American,  March  10,  1885. 

§A.  C.  S.  Reports,  1818,  1;  1. 

!| A.  N.  Bell,  The  Debt  of  Africa,  the  Hope  of  Liberia,  1881. 

IfThis  line  of  division  was  intensified  until  it  became  the  great 
chasm  opening  towards  the  Civil  War. 

**Alexander  Johnston  in  Lalor  1:  3. 


34  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

and  in  his  fiery  zeal  for  immediate  and  unconditional  eman 
cipation  fanned  fanaticism  to  a  white  heat. 

Under  these  circumstances  General  Harper  came  to  the 
rescue  of  the  society,  and  defended  it  against  both  classes 
of  opposers.  August  20,  1817,  he  wrote  a  long  letter,  in 
which  he  set  forth  the  advantages  of  colonization  to  the 
blacks  themselves.  He  showed  that  the  first  gain  of  all 
would  be  to  our  own  people  by  ridding  us  of  the  idle  and 
vicious  class  of  free  blacks.  They  are  condemned  to  a  hope 
less  degradation  by  their  color,  which  is  an  indelible  mark 
of  their  origin.  This  mark  establishes  forever  an  impassable 
barrier  between  them  and  the  whites.  This  barrier  rests 
upon  our  habits,  our  feelings,  on  our  prejudices,  but  whether 
prejudice  or  feelings  it  makes  us  recoil  from  the  idea  of  an 
intimate  union  with  the  free  blacks.  A  state  of  equality 
between  the  races,  which  alone  could  make  us  one  people, 
is  simply  impossible.  Be  their  industry  ever  so  good,  their 
conduct  ever  so  correct,  their  property  ever  so  great,  we  may 
admire  their  character;  we  never  could  consent  and  they 
never  could  hope  to  see  the  two  races  placed  on  a  footing 
of  perfect  equality  with  each  other.  They  never  could  visit 
our  homes  or  participate  in  public  honors  and  employment. 
This  is  strictly  true  of  every  part  of  our  country,  even  of 
those  parts  where  slavery  has  long  ceased  to  exist  and  is 
held  in  abhorence. 

"There  is  no  State  in  the  Union,"  General  Harper  said, 
"where  a  negro  or  mulatto  can  ever  hope  to  be  a  member  of 
Congress,  a  judge,  or  a  militia  officer,  or  even  a  justice  of  the 
peace;  to  sit  down  at  the  table  with  respectable  whites  or 
mix  freely  in  their  society. 

"Paul  Cuffee,*  respectable,  intelligent  and  wealthy,  has  no 
chance  of  ever  being  invited  to  dine  with  a  gentleman  in 
Boston  or  of  marrying  his  daughter,  whatever  may  be  her 
education  or  fortune,  to  one  of  their  sons." 

These  passages  are  very  striking  in  the  light  of  subse 
quent  developments,  claims  and  accomplished  facts.  Gen 
eral  Harper  goes  on  in  his  argument  to  show  how  different 
slavery  in  the  United  States  was  from  servitude  in  any  other 
country,  and  why  the  liberated  slave  found  his  lot  so  much 

*Paul  Cuffee,  of  Boston,  son  of  an  Indian  woman,  and  a  native 
African  father,  was  born  off  the  coast  of  Massachusetts.  He  became 
a  sailor,  then  a  trader,  and  acquired  wealth.  He  was  an  influential 
Quaker.  He  manned  his  vessels  wholly  with  negroes.  In  1811  he 
went  in  his  own  ship  to  Sierra  Leone  to  study  its  condition,  and  in 
1815  he  took  out  38  negro  emigrants  at  his  own  expense.  A  second 
expedition  was  Interrupted  by  his  death. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  35 

harder  than  that  of  freedmen  in  other  countries  and  other 
ages. 

Slavery  then  existed  in  more  than  three-fourths  of  the 
globe,  but  the  great  body  of  slaves  everywhere,  except  in 
America,  were  of  the  same  race,  origin  and  color,  and  of  the 
same  general  character  as  the  free  men.  So  it  was  among 
the  ancients.  Under  such  conditions  manumission  not  only 
removed  the  slave  from  the  condition  of  slavery,  but  also 
exempted  him  from  its  consequences  and  opened  the  way  for 
a  full  participation  in  all  the  privileges  of  freedom.  He 
was  raised  to  an  equality  with  the  free  class,  and  might 
wash  out  the  stains  of  his  former  degradation  and  obliterate 
its  memory.  In  the  United  States,  General  Harper  said, 
this  is  impossible,  for  you  may  manumit  the  slave,  but  you 
cannot  make  him  a  white  man.  He  still  remains  a  negro, 
and  the  mark  of  his  former  condition  still  adheres  to  him 
aod  forms  a  barrier  which  can  never  be  removed.  The  de 
basement  which  was  formerly  compulsory  becomes  habitual 
and  voluntary.  Far  better  was  the  condition  of  a  well- 
cared-for  slave  than  that  of  the  wretched  freedman.  As 
long  as  the  freedman  existed  in  the  midst  of  slavery  he  was 
not  only  hopeless,  but  he  was  a  corrupting  influence  upon 
slaves  and  a  constant  menace  to  order.  General  Harper 
urged  that  to  remove  this  class  from  their  position  of  danger 
to  society  and  of  hopelessness  and  put  them  in  an  environ 
ment  suited  to  their  needs  was  the  most  reasonble  solution 
of  the  problem.  And  colonization  was  aiming  at  just  this 
result.  Moreover,  colonization  would  tend,  he  claimed,  to 
rid  the  people  of  the  United  States  entirely  of  slaves  and 
slavery.  From  this  point  of  view  colonization  most  strongly 
appealed  to  him  and  to  the  world  for  support.  "No  person/' 
he  says,  "who  has  seen  the  slave-holding  States  and  those 
where  slavery  does  not  exist  can  have  failed  to  have  been 
struck  with  the  difference  in  favor  of  the  latter.  In  popula 
tion,  in  general  diffusion  of  wealth  and  comfort,  in  educa 
tion,  manners  and  mode  of  life  of  the  middle  class,  in  roads, 
bridges  and  rivers,  in  schools  and  churches,  and  in  general 
advancement,  there  was  no  comparison.  The  change  is  ap 
parent  the  instant  you  cross  the  line  which  separates  the 
country  where  there  are  slaves  and  where  there  are  none." 

General  Harper  was  of  the  opinion  that  to  substitute  a 
free  white  class  of  laborers  for  slaves  was  as  practicable  as 
it  would  be  beneficial,  and  that  colonization  was  the  first 
step  in  this  direction.  All  emancipation  which  permits  the 
emancipated  person  to  remain  in  this  country  was  an  evil; 


36  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

for  it  to  extend  to  the  whole  black  race  would  be  intolerable. 
But  he  gave  his  hearty  support  to  a  society  which  would 
open  the  way  for  colonization  and  thereby  relieve  the  coun 
try  of  the  impending  evil.  If  the  freed  blacks  could  be 
colonized  in  Africa  they  would  become  free  in  fact  and 
would  have  no  hindrance  from  a  white  population  remind 
ing  them  of  their  former  degradation.* 

This  fact  would  induce  more  frequent  manumission,  and 
this  in  turn  would  have  a  good  effect  upon  the  slaves.  More 
over,  the  gain  to  commerce  would  be  great  and,  above  all, 
would  be  the  beneficent  effect  upon  Africa  from  this  return 
ol  her  own  race,  carrying  knowledge  and  civilization  with 
them. 

Some  persons  advocated  the  sending  of  colonists  to  Sierra 
Leone,  but  General  Harper  opposed  this  on  the  ground  of 
the  greater  advance  in  geographical  knowledge  of  Africa. 
We  ought  to  profit,  he  said,  by  the  misfortune  of  Sierra 
Leone,  and  make  first  choice  of  locations,  and  lay  a  sure 
foundation  good  for  the  distant  future.  Indeed,  the  colony 
should  be  as  distant  as  possible  from  Sierra  Leone,  in  order 
to  avoid  any  complication  with  its  people.f 

He  wished  to  see  uour  colony  republican  and  fashioned 
with  a  view  to  self-government  and  independence,  at  the 
earliest  possible  period,  for  thus  only  can  it  be  most  useful 
to  the  colonists,  to  Africa  and  to  us."  His  foresight  in  the 
choice  of  a  proper  site  for  the  colony  assured  its  future.  It 
must  be  in  communication  with  the  Niger  river,  destined, 
he  said,  to  be  the  connecting  channel  between  interior  Africa 
and  the  world.J 

Above  all,  Harper  insisted  upon  the  choice  of  a  place  that 
would  be  strategic  for  the  future.  He  believed  in  the  future 
of  Africa,  and  at  the  end  of  his  letter  allowed  his  feelings  to 
burst  out  in  anticipation  of  the  "hope  of  success  which  seems 
sufficient  to  stimulate  us  to  the  utmost  exertion.  Who  can 
count  the  millions  that  in  a  future  time  shall  know  and  bless 

*One  of  the  causes  of  the  prejudices  at  present  existing  in  Liberia 
between  the  native  Africans  and  the  Afro- Americans  is  the  oft-heard 
taunt  from  the  natives  of  "Slave"  applied  to  the  natives  of  Liberia. 
Fred.  Douglass  in  Johnson's  Encyclopedia. 

fFailure  to  follow  this  suggestion  of  General  Harper  led  to  inde 
pendence  of  Liberia,  July  6,  1847. 

JHe  relied  for  information  of  the  geography  of  Africa  upon  Park, 
Maxwell,  Riley  and  other  travelers.  Geography  had  been  a  favorite 
study  with  him.  His  wide  knowledge  of  it  and  his  experience  as  a 
surveyor  were  now  of  great  service  to  him.  His  choice  of  Mesurado. 
instead  of  Sherbrough,  was  amply  justified  in  the  sequel. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  37 

the  names  of  those  by  whom  this  magnificent  scheme  has 
been  conceived  and  shall  be  carried  into  execution?  Through 
out  the  widely  extended  regions  of  Middle  and  Southern 
Africa,  then  filled  with  populous  and  polished  natives,  their 
praises  shall  be  sung  when  other  States  shall  have  run  their 
round  of  grandeur  and  decay,  and  shall  no  longer  be  known, 
except  by  vague  report  of  their  former  greatness." 

General  Harper's  views  created  a  profound  impression 
and  assured  the  success  of  the  society.  Jared  Sparks  wrote 
in  the  North  American  Keview,  January,  1824:  "General 
Harper's  views  are  philosophical,  just  in  principle  and  fact." 

His  suggestions  were  acted  on  in  the  fall  of  1817,  and  an 
exploring  party  was  sent  to  Africa.  The  expedition  so 
drained  the  society  that  it  might  have  been  ruined  but  for 
the  help  of  President  Monroe,*  who,  by  a  liberal  construc 
tion  of  an  act  of  Congress,  co-operated  with  the  society,  and 
|33,000  was  put  at  their  disposal.  Eighty-six  negroes  were 
sent  out  and  arrived  in  Africa  in  March,  1829.  Most  of  them 
did  not  survive  the  fever.  Twenty-eight  more  were  sent 
March,  1821.  In  April,  1822,  the  first  permanent  settlement 
was  made.  The  struggle  for  life  against  the  climate  and 
the  natives  makes  a  thrilling  story  which  cannot  be  related 
here.f 

February,  1824,  the  "Cyrus"  took  out  one  hundred  and 
three  negroes  from  about  Petersburg,  Richmond  and  Nor 
folk,  Va.  The  "Oswego,"  May,  1823,  had  carried  two  negroes, 
freed  in  order  that  they  might  go  to  Liberia,  the  "Cyrus"  had 
eleven  such;  while  in  1824  the  "Nautilus"  carried  one  hun 
dred  and  forty-nine  such.J  The  cost  of  transportation  was 
as  low  as  |26  a  head.§  The  funds  of  the  society  were  gotten 
from  the  annual  fee  of  one  dollar,  the  life  fee  of  $30  and  from 
legacies  and  gifts.  Koskiusko  left  $20,000  for  young  negro 
women.  This  was  used  to  buy  a  farm  for  training  children 
for  the  colony.||  Rev.  William  Meade,  later  Bishop  Meade, 
collected  much  money  in  Virginia  and  the  South  for  the  so 
ciety.  General  Harper  was  a  liberal  contributor  and  also 
gave  many  books,  maps  and  papers  for  the  society. 

When  the  question  came  up  of  asking  aid  of  the  United 

*J.  H.  U.  Studies,  9:  500. 

tin  1821  Dr.  Ely  Ayres,  agent  for  the  society,  was  sent  out  in  a 
United  States  vessel  under  Lieutenant  Stockton.  Ayres  and  Stock 
ton  bought  of  King  Peter,  King  George,  King  Zoda,  King  Long  Peter 
King  Governor  and  King  Jimmy,  for  $300,  a  tract  of  land  for  the 
colony.  A.  C.  S.  Reports,  7,  79,  1824. 

JTable  of  Recaptured  Africans,  &c.,  Washington,  1845. 

§Christian  Examiner,  1824,  pp.  83,  467. 

I! Christian  Examiner,  1824,  p.  322. 


38  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

States  Government  for  the  society,  General  Harper  warmly 
supported  the  claim  the  society  had  upon  the  Government. 
No  private  means,  he  said,  could  carry  out  the  scheme  of  the 
society.  All  they  could  do  was  to  pave  the  way.  It  had 
been  shown  to  be  practicable  to  colonize  the  free  blacks. 
But  private  efforts  could  at  most  reach  only  a  few  thousand 
of  them.  The  task  needed  a  far  mightier  hand,  and  it  must 
have  three  indispensable  features;  it  must  be  gradual,  volun 
tary  and  with  consent  of  the  slave  owners.  Such  a  task  re 
quired  national  means.  The  object  was  national  in  its  con 
sequences.  The  nation  must  remove  the  national  evil.  "We 
may  appeal  to  the  patriotism  and  good  sense  of  Congress," 
he  said,  "in  this  great  national  undertaking."* 

When  the  society  met,  February,  1824,  General  Harper 
proposed  a  name  for  the  African  colony — Liberia.  "A  name 
that  is  peculiar,  short  and  familiar  and  that  expresses  the 
object  and  nature  of  the  establishment  in  Liberia,  which 
denotes  a  settlement  of  people  made  free.  This  name  is  easy, 
apt  and  concise."  The  name  was  adopted.  Then  General 
Harper  proposed  to  call  the  capital  "Monrovia,"  "as  a  mark 
of  gratitude  to  that  venerable  man  to  whom  it  owes  more 
than  to  any  other  single  man,  it  being  perfectly  well  known 
that  but  for  the  favorable  use  of  the  great  powers  confided 
to  him  all  our  efforts  must  have  been  unavailing."!  The 
town,  now  Cape  Palmas,  the  home  of  the  Kroomen,$  was 
named  Harper  by  the  society  for  the  man  who  named  the 
country  and  the  capital. § 

In  twenty  years  the  society  sent  out  more  than  four  thou 
sand  negroes.  Of  these  sixteen  hundred  were  from  Virginia 
and  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five  from  North  Carolina. 

In  1896  emigration,  which  had  been  checked  by  the  Civil 
War,  began  to  revive,  and  three  hundred  and  twenty-five 
went  on  their  own  charges.  ||  Since  1822  the  total  number  of 
emigrants  sent  to  Liberia  is  18,000.  Liberia  has  never  really 
been  a  part  of  Africa;  it  has  been  more  a  part  of  Virginia  or 
North  Carolina,  stuck  on  to  the  African  coast.  American 
ideas  and  sentiments  prevail  to  the  total  exclusion  of  social 
aspirations.  Yet  the  Americo-Liberians,  as  they  prefer  to 
be  called,  have  done  a  great  work  for  Africa. 

The  emigrants  and  their  descendants  number  only  about 

"Lincoln,  December  1,  1862,  favored  colonization  of  free  negroes 
outside  the  United  States,  Selox,  1;  5. 

tJ.  H.  U.  Studies,  p.  511;  A.  C.  S.  Reports,  7:  5. 

$Fred  Douglass  in  Johnson's  Encyclopedia. 

§J.  H.  U.  Studies,  9:  511. 

|| Liberia,  Bulletin  of  A.  C.  S.,.  February,  1897,  p.  4. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  39 

20,000,  but  their  sphere  of  influence  extends  over  thousands 
of  natives.  They  have  demonstrated  the  capacity  of  the 
negro  for  self-government,  if  given  the  proper  environment.* 

Liberia  has  four  counties,  Mesurado,  Grand  Basso,  Senoie, 
and  Maryland  in  Liberia;  Louisiana,  New  Georgia,  Virginia, 
Greenville  and  Lexington.  There  is  no  national  debt,  a  sur 
plus  in  the  treasury,  a  property  qualification  for  the  suffrage, 
a  regular  school  system  and  churches  of  various  denomina 
tions. 

The  exhibit  from  Liberia  at  the  World's  Fair  was  very 
creditable.  The  direct  trade  of  Liberia  with  the  United 
States  is  not  large,  but  the  use  of  American  goods  bought 
in  Europe  is  considerable. 

To  all  the  results  of  the  scheme  of  colonization  General 
Harper  contributed  more  or  less.  In  particular  his  part  in 
the  work  may  be  briefly  capitulated,  thus: 

1.  He  was  one  of  the  early  members  of  the  society. 

2.  His  able  defense  of  the  society  at  a  critical  moment 
turned  the  trend  of  opinion  to  an  interest  in  the  plan. 

3.  He  was  for  years  a  vice-president  of  the  society. 

4.  He  was  Vice-President  of  the  Maryland  Auxiliary  So 
ciety. 

5.  He  gave  the  names  Liberia  and  Monrovia  to  the  land 
and  its  capital. 

6.  His  own  name  has  been  given  to  the  town  of  Harper.f 
Of  General  Harper  as  a  lawyer  we  have  had  little  to  say. 

The  aim  and  the  limits  of  this  paper  preclude  an  account  of 
that  side  of  his  activity.  His  practice  was  large,  important 
and  lucrative.  Mention  of  a  few  cases  will  illustrate  his 

*Fred  Douglass  in  Johnson's  Encyclopedia. 

tThe  American  Colonization  Society  still  exists.  It  has  accom 
plished  these  results: 

1.  It  established  a  colony,  which  exists  to-day  as  an  independent 
nation. 

2.  It  has  given  aid  to  emigrants. 

3.  It  has  diffused  knowledge  of  Africa  and  of  the  free  blacks  of 
the  United  States. 

4.  It  has  aroused  sympathy  for  the  negro  race  in  the  United  States 
and  in  Africa. 

5.  It  checked  the  slave  trade. 

6.  It  has  aided  in  the  civilization  and  Christianization  of  Africa. 

7.  It  made  an  honest  effort  to  cure  our  country's  evils. 

8.  It  may  yet  furnish  the  solution  for  the  greatest  problem  which 
confronts  our  people. 

Captain  Cameron,  R.  N.,  has  said,  "Africa  is  the  hope  of  the  future 
and  will  be  the  salvation  of  an  over-crowded  world."  (A.  C.  S.  Re 
ports,  1897,  page  80.) 


40  Robert  Goodloe  Harper. 

line  of  work.  In  1809-1810  he  was  engaged  with  John 
Quincy  Adams  on  the  case  of  Fletcher  vs.  Peck,  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  In  the  Pennsylvania 
Supreme  Court  he  was  associated  with  Tilgman,  Rawle  and 
Lewis,  in  the  case  of  Commonwealth  vs.  Cobbett,  in  1798. 
In  the  Maryland  courts  the  records  and  reports  show  that  he 
took  part  in  1803  in  the  case  of  Owings  vs.  Smith  with  Lu 
ther  Martin,  the  "Bulldog,"  as  his  opponent,  and  the  next 
year  he  was  with  Martin  against  Ingersoll  and  Lincoln  and 
Dallas  in  the  case  of  Pennington  vs.  Coxe.  This  list  might 
be  greatly  extended.  The  part  Harper  played  in  impeach 
ment  trials  has  been  referred  to  above. 

In  1824  General  Harper  determined  to  retire  from  profes 
sional  life,  and  devote  himself  to  public  concerns.  The 
broad  and  liberal  principles  he  espoused  were  set  forth  in 
an  address  at  the  time  he  announced  himself  for  Congress. 
In  the  midst  of  these  plans  sudden  death  came.*  General 
Harper  died  January  14, 1825.f  His  funeral  ceremonies  were 
most  elaborate,^  and  testified  to  the  universal  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  in  his  own  city.§ 

General  Harper's  death  called  forth  many  warm  tributes 
of  respect.  The  American  Colonization  Society  spoke  of  him 
as  "a  friend  whose  splendid  talents  commanded  the  respect 
of  the  loftiest,  whose  warm,  practical  and  efficient  benevo- 

*Niles'  Register,  January  22,  1825,  p.  986. 

tSee  account  of  his  sudden  death  in  J.  P.  Kennedy,  "Life  of  Will- 
lam  Wirt,  2,  169,  where  is  quoted  a  letter  of  Wirt's,  January  16, 
1825. 

^Baltimore  American,  January  17,  1825. 

§A  full  account  of  it  may  be  seen  in  a  rare  old  book  by  Jos.  Picker 
ing,  "An  Emigrant's  Guide  to  Canada."  My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr. 
Bump  of  'the  Baltimore  Sun  for  the  use  of  this  book. 

General  Harper  was  interred  at  his  county  estate  "Oakland."  His 
remains  were  later  removed  to  Greenmount  Cemetery  in  Baltimore. 
The  monument  there  bears  the  epitaph: 

ROBERT  GOODLOE   HARPER. 

Born  near  Fredericksburg,  Virginia.  A  member  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  South  Carolina.  Then  a  Representative  of  that  State  in  Con 
gress.  Then  chosen  to  the  Senate  of  Maryland.  And  then  a  Sena 
tor  from  Maryland  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  As  a  states 
man  he  was  distinguished  by  extended  knowledge,  accurate  judg 
ment,  energy  of  character,  and  unbending  integrity.  As  a  lawyer 
he  occupied  an  exalted  station  at  the  Bar  of  Maryland.  As  husband, 
father  and  friend  he  possessed  and  exercised  all  the  warm  and  noble 
feelings  of  the  human  heart.  He  died  at  Baltimore,  January  14, 
1825,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age.  "Vir  cui  ad  summam  aucto- 
ritatem  nihil  clefuit  praeter  sanam  civium  mentein."  Tit.  Liv. 


Robert  Goodloe  Harper.  41 

lence,  the  affection  of  the  purest  minds."*  The  most  elab 
orate  and  eloquent  tribute  was  pronounced  by  William 
Wirt,  who  said:  "He  has  been  for  thirty  years  on  the  great 
theater  of  the  United  States  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation; 
*  *  *  the  nation  has  considered  him  as  one  of  her  bright 
est  ornaments.  We  are  proud  to  acknowledge  him  as  stand 
ing  in  the  van  of  our  ranks,  who  would  have  thrown  an 
illustrious  light  upon  the  profession  in  any  country."f  John 
Neal  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  said  of  Harper:  "We  hold 
him  to  be  altogether  one  of  the  ablest  men  North  America 
has  produced."! 

*A.  C.  S.,  Reports,  8:4,  19.     Missionary  Herald,  vol.  21,  April,  1825. 
tNiles'  Register,  January  22,  1825,  p.  986. 
JVol.  17,  p.  56. 


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